April's Law: Call to put sex offenders on the register for life

April Jones was abducted and murdered in 2012 Credit: PA

A campaign by the mother and sister of murdered April Jones calling for tougher measures against sex offenders has been debated in Parliament.

Five-year-old April was abducted and murdered by paedophile Mark Bridger in 2012. An extensive collection of child abuse material was found on Bridger's computer after his arrest.

Now April's sister Jazmin and mum Coral Jones is asking the Prime Minister to make all sex offenders remain on the register for life - no matter the crime - and for harder sentences on those caught with indecent images of children.

Talking to ITV News Coral said: "We want the paedophiles on the register for life because once they've done the time and they come off the register, they can go back in again and work with children, it's just not right. Those children should be kept safe."

April's family say it remains far too easy for offenders to access indecent material of children on the internet.

Jazmin said more surveillance needs to be done with tracking what people search for online: "In search engines, know what you've been looking for so they [authorities] could actually forward that on to the police and be like well this popped up in this area can you take a look at it."

Despite their campaigning efforts to protect children online they say no internet service provider has replied to them about their concerns or proposals.

A petition supporting April's Law had been signed by 126,500 people as of Monday morning.

When asked if sentencing is too lenient on people found with indecent images of children April's sister Jazmin told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "They know it's completely wrong. So someone showing interest in it and actually looking for these images is going to go out and do something.

"It might not be today, or tomorrow. It could be a couple of years' time. But they're still showing an interest, which is wrong."

Mrs Jones, from Powys, Wales, added: "Somebody had to take the pictures of those children... those children have to go through hell as well.

"It's proven that other people have been back into prison, that have done things to children. It wasn't long ago on the news that a man had been in [prison] three times, for doing something to a child, and now he's only got ten years."

Fragments of human bone consistent with a "younger individual" were found in the fireplace of Bridger's cottage. Blood found in several parts of the cottage was matched to April's DNA. Bridger always denied murder but accepted he was "probably responsible" for her death.

Coral Jones told ITV News that she is going to apply to visit Mark Bridger in prison to ask him why he murdered her daughter.

Coral Jones said she will ask: "What made you look at these images, what made you download these images and what made you go from looking at these images to murdering a little girl."

MPs have told Coral and Jazmin that because of their efforts already other children will be better protected.

However the family feel without April's Law being enacted many children will unnecessarily remain at risk.

Mark Bridger is serving a whole life tariff Credit: PA

It comes after Simon Bailey, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection, said police resources should be targeted at offenders who posed a real danger to children through “contact abuse”.

Paedophiles looking at “low-level images” online could be registered as sex offenders and “managed in the community”, he added.

Scotland’s top police officer Phil Gormley said: “You need to focus your effort on people who are going to cause physical harm to children or are most likely to become contact abusers.”

The NSPCC estimate that 57,000 children across the UK are at risk of child abuse.