April Jones' Sister Skydives For Search Team

The teenage half-sister of April Jones has skydived 13,000ft to raise £4,000 for a volunteer rescue team who helped search for the five-year-old Welsh schoolgirl.

April vanished while playing on her bike near her home on the Bryn y Gog estate in Machynlleth, mid-Wales, on October 1 last year.

Her disappearance prompted the biggest search in British policing history. However, her body has never been found.

Dozens of volunteers came forward to help in the search for April, including a team of specialist mountain rescuers.

April's half-sister Hazel Jones wanted to thank them for their efforts and took part in a skydive in Swansea to raise money for the Western Beacons Mountain Search and Rescue Team on Saturday.

Writing on her JustGiving page, the 19-year-old said she wanted to thank the team for their "amazing courage and dedication to the search of my little sister April Jones when she went missing".

"They battled all types of terrain and horrendous weather conditions" and, like April's parents Paul and Coral and others, "never gave up hope", she added.

The search and rescue team posted pictures of the skydive on its Facebook page, saying: "Well done, Hazel."

Mark Bridger, 47, from Ceinws, near Machynlleth, was sentenced to life imprisonment in May after being convicted of abducting and murdering April.