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Police team win award for murder case

Pembrokeshire officers DC Fred Hunter (left) and Detective Inspector Anthony Evans.
Pembrokeshire officers DC Fred Hunter (left) and Detective Inspector Anthony Evans.
Pembrokeshire officers DC Fred Hunter (left) and Detective Inspector Anthony Evans.

A POLICE operation which investigated the abduction and murder of five-year-old April Jones is the first recipient of a new award.
Dyfed Powys Police has been named the winner of the Police Federation National Detectives Forum’s (PFNDF) Policing Excellence Award for Operation Tempest.
Two of the officers involved in the investigation, DC Fred Hunter and Detective Inspector Anthony Evans, who are stationed in Haverfordwest, were part of the team who received the award.
In October 2012, April was abducted as she played near her home in the small Welsh town of Machynlleth and then murdered.
More than 100 detectives and specialist police staff and officers from around the country were drafted in to support the investigation, which resulted in a murder conviction and life prison sentence for 47-year-old Mark Bridger.
The investigation was one of the most sensitive, meticulous and high profile in recent years, with the rural area presenting a raft of other challenges caused by the extremities of the location.
Following Bridger’s conviction, the investigation was praised by both barristers, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), politicians and members of the community.
PFNDF Secretary Paul Ford said: “This investigation brought out the very best in true team working to deliver justice for April, her family and the local community.
“PDNDF wish to recognise the truly outstanding policing excellence displayed by Dyfed Powys Police, the wider police family and those who supported this investigation and helped in the delivery of justice.”
Detective Superintendent Andy John, who led the investigation, said: “We are delighted as a team to have been presented with this award. Our focus was always to secure justice for April and her family, and we could not have achieved this without the support and assistance of so many officers and staff in Dyfed Powys, but also all the other forces and agencies throughout the UK – it was a huge team effort.”
The award was presented at a ceremony at Old Trafford on Thursday, October 3.

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