The mountain rescue vehicle will bear April's name, with her family's blessing

A mountain rescue team will name its new vehicle after murdered schoolgirl April Jones in recognition of her sister’s fundraising efforts.

April’s half-sister Hazel jumped 13,000ft in a skydive at the weekend to raise cash for the Western Beacons Mountain Search and Rescue Team, one of the volunteer organisations that joined the search for the girl.

April disappeared on October last year after getting into a vehicle belonging to Mark Bridger in her home town of Machynlleth. The incident sparked the biggest missing-person search for decades, involving numerous mountain rescue teams from across Britain.

Bridger was found guilty of the five-year-old’s abduction and murder last month. The girl’s body was never found.

On Saturday, April’s half-sister successfully completed a tandem skydive in the skies above Swansea, with money pledged to the Western Beacons team.

Team spokesman Nick Hardwidge said: “The team turned out in force at Swansea Airport on Saturday to cheer Hazel on.

“After everything they have done for us in terms of fundraising, we were all really keen to meet Hazel and her mother Karen.

“In six days the total amount of money pledged has risen from a few hundred pounds to over £5,000.

“It is an incredible feat and there is the potential for further good news as several companies have promised to match the total raised with a donation of their own.

“If they are as good as their word, Hazel Jones will raise in excess of £30,000 which is a staggering sum and added to the money the team have managed to collect over the past 18 months with their own fundraising, will mean that we can finally place the order for a new control vehicle.

“The call-sign for the vehicle being replaced, Bravo Tango, will be retired and in honour of April and with her family’s blessing, the team have decided that the new vehicle will have the call-sign Bravo April.”

Contributions can still be made via Hazel Jones’s justgiving page.