The Student Room Group

Missing 5 year old abducted in van

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/hundreds-search-for-missing-girl-9


Police and "hundreds" of local residents are searching for a missing five-year-old girl who vanished while playing with friends near her home.
April Jones was last seen getting into a light coloured van which drove off in the mid Wales town of Machynlleth at 7.30pm on Monday.
Dyfed-Powys Police said they are becoming "increasingly concerned" for the missing youngster's safety and have a number of officers and specialist teams involved in the investigation. Hundreds of locals are said to have joined the hunt for April on Monday evening and are expected to continue looking overnight.
A force spokesman said: "Police are increasingly concerned for the whereabouts of a five year girl from Machynlleth. April Jones was last seen playing with her friend on their bikes near to garages in the town at around 7.30pm yesterday evening. April was seen getting into a light coloured van or van sized vehicle which then drove off. Police ask anyone with any information to call them on 101."
Up to 200 people congregated at Machynlleth Leisure Centre on Monday to join the search for the missing girl, according to reports.
Local restaurant owner Razul Islam said a large majority of the town, which has a population of 2,000, was out in force searching for the five-year-old.
"There are hundreds of people out looking for her," Mr Islam told Sky News. "It is such a small town and nearly everyone is out looking for her - I'm shocked that it has happened in a town like this."
The businessman said he expected the search to continue throughout the night. "The police and locals are patrolling on foot, everyone is just looking everywhere," he added.
Chris Dudley, who works at the Skinners Arms on Penrallt Street, said the pub was empty with many of the locals in the town looking for the little girl. He said: "All the locals are looking for her in this area - the cemeteries, the golf field, playing field, everywhere you can think of. Police are still looking."
Meanwhile, petrol station owner Nerys Zjalic said she had reopened the garage to help with the search. Ms Zjalic, who runs Reads Garage, told ITV Wales: "We'll stay open all night if we have to. We heard about the search through social networking sites and there was a lot of people going past our house."


PICTURE OF GIRL:

B48179F9FA47A762B36FCC730670.jpg




HOW SHOCKING...


It's vile.. I hope they find her soon.

I do wonder why a five year old was out alone anyway!
Hope she gets found safe and sound.
Reply 3
It's sick. The older I'm getting and having to step foot in the real world and thinking more about everything all I'm starting to see is a world full of terrible stuff. Maybe it's just me at the moment, I'm just going through that stage but I just don't understand why this world is ike this, everything is just scaring the **** out of me at this stage in my life.

I hope they find her soon!
I had to be like the fly in the soup but how much attention would this have gotten if it was a black girl or boy or whatever?

Hope the girl gets found but the media eats this missing white girl stuff up, which can harm the cases for other missing people.
What I don't understand is that if they are detaining a supsect, how come they are still looking for the child? If he is the abductor and she's not with him, then were is she? I can only really see three possibilities;

1) he's the wrong man
2) he's hidden her somewhere and is not saying
3) he had an accomplice who is out there and still has her
Original post by Studentus-anonymous
I had to be like the fly in the soup but how much attention would this have gotten if it was a black girl or boy or whatever?

Hope the girl gets found but the media eats this missing white girl stuff up, which can harm the cases for other missing people.


Yeah no. Black people make up less than 3% of the population. The percentage of children who go missing each year is 0.2%. The percentage of under 10s in this list is even much smaller, the majority of these children are 15,16,17 year olds. A black child who went missing at a similar age would have just received as much media attention same with boy. Don't try to make everything a political statement. There was clear reasons to give this coverage, the first 48 hours are very important. There was also mass involvement of the community. Media is there to document events and this was clearly a event that was worth documenting.
Reply 7
Original post by Plato's Trousers
What I don't understand is that if they are detaining a supsect, how come they are still looking for the child? If he is the abductor and she's not with him, then were is she? I can only really see three possibilities;

1) he's the wrong man
2) he's hidden her somewhere and is not saying
3) he had an accomplice who is out there and still has her



I hadnt thought of number 3 tbh.

I just dont understand why the guy hasnt told the police where little April is!.According to the news she needs regular medication.All I can think of is that this guy is trying to be a control freak, knowing he has power over the police.
Reply 8
Apparently she has cerebral palsy and needs medication daily, if she doesn't have it she'll be in a lot of pain. :frown:

As if this story could be even more terrible.
I thought it was odd that they released the guy's name.

Sadly I guess she's already gone.
what would he get out of it ?

this reminds me of the quote: some men aren't looking for anything logical; they can't be bought, bullied or reasoned with. Some men, just want to watch the world burn
Original post by Annoying-Mouse
Yeah no. Black people make up less than 3% of the population. The percentage of children who go missing each year is 0.2%. The percentage of under 10s in this list is even much smaller, the majority of these children are 15,16,17 year olds. A black child who went missing at a similar age would have just received as much media attention same with boy. Don't try to make everything a political statement. There was clear reasons to give this coverage, the first 48 hours are very important. There was also mass involvement of the community. Media is there to document events and this was clearly a event that was worth documenting.


Cool, statistics, chuck me the source. They sound reasonable but as an aside, bam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_white_woman_syndrome

I concur the first 48 hours are important, but there are a lot of missing people, and the media don't beat a story to death for the pure goodness of it.
(edited 11 years ago)
I'm quite apathetic towards this; but I hope she's safe and sound :smile:
Reply 13
Original post by Studentus-anonymous
I had to be like the fly in the soup but how much attention would this have gotten if it was a black girl or boy or whatever?

Hope the girl gets found but the media eats this missing white girl stuff up, which can harm the cases for other missing people.


I really don't understand why you had to bring this up, just a useless point into a sensitive situation like this.

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