The funeral of the five-year-old girl took place in St. Peter’s church in Machynlleth, mid Wales.
Hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects and watch as Coral, husband Paul and April’s sister Jazmin and brother Harley said goodbye.
The small town came to a standstill as April’s small, cream coffin was pulled through in a white carriage.
Jazmin had put together a montage of family pictures of April for a GCSE project which played to a soundtrack of Emeli Sande’s Read All About It as mourners entered the church, behind the coffin.
Coral sobbed as she watched the coffin carrying the tiny remains of her daughter to the front of the church.
Poems written by a local resident were read out. One, titled April, read: “On this beautiful sunlit Autumn day, a desperate sadness casts long shadows, across our anxious and questioning world.
“Time and mischance have conspired, to inflict the cruelest of evil fates, on an innocent and trusting infant.”
The service was delivered by Reverend Kathleen Rogers, who said: “We know that there are no words we can say at this moment to express what we are feeling. No words can alleviate our sorrow or take away out pain.”
Speaking about April, the Reverend continued: “For a five-year-old she touched a great many lives. For Paul, Coral, Jazmin and Harley, April was and is very special.
“But she touched us all and we think and feel differently because of the difference she made to us. Today, here in this place, she is linking us altogether in grief. Yet, grief goes hand in hand with love.”
Mourners dressed in pink or donned ribbons in the colour, April’s favourite. The town was covered in pink, with ribbons tied to railings and lampposts.
A memorial has been set up for April, which features a pink dolls’ house, pink flowers and pink ribbons.
A neighbour, who wished to remain unnamed, said: “People here will never forget April and will always be here for her family. The way everyone still wears pink ribbons and looks after the memorial garden is a way of showing our support.”
Residents wore pink ribbons when April first disappeared on October 1 last year as a symbol of hope.
April was snatched by Mark Bridger outside her home and he was convicted of her murder in May. He claimed that he’d knocked April down in his car and, due to an alcohol-fuel haze, had no idea what he did with her body.
Mark was sentenced to a whole life term in prison.
After a six-month search, just 17 tiny pieces of her bone were discovered. The inquest into April’s death finished on September 16, allowing the funeral to take place.
The Reverend revealed that donations made at the funeral would be used to sponsor a five-year-old girl living in Uganda until she finishes school ‘in an attempt to see some good out of this tragedy.’