PA
The parents of missing April Jones have told how they will give their little girl's brother and sister the best Christmas they can – and wished other families 'a peaceful and loving' Christmas.
In an incredibly brave and poignant statement, Coral and Paul Jones said:"We are coming to terms with the fact that our baby girl has been taken from us.
"It has been ten weeks since April, our beautiful little girl, was taken from us and the pain of our tragic loss doesn't get any easier to bear. With support, we are taking each day at a time.
"We understand that Christmas will be a particularly difficult time without April being amongst us but as parents of Harley and Jazmin we will obviously acknowledge the festive season as best as we can.
"We sincerely hope that families around the world will enjoy a peaceful and loving Christmas." They made their statement as police announced that rescue teams would take a two-week break from their search to spend time with their families over the festive period.
The couple added: "We are extremely grateful to Dyfed Powys Police for their continued efforts to find April. The dedication and determination shown by the search teams who have come from all over the UK has been truly amazing.
"We take comfort to think that they will be returning to their families to earn a well deserved rest over the Christmas and New Year period."
Detectives who have been scouring countryside around Machynlleth, the Welsh town where she went missing, since April disappeared at the beginning of October.
Superintendent Ian John, of Dyfed-Powys Police, pledged to continue the search after the break at 'around the same level'.
"We are working through a methodical plan, which we have been doing from day one. It obviously changes and is constantly under review," he added.
"The key thing is the family liaison officers and the whole investigative team are focussed on supporting April's family and they are kept up-to-date with any developments. We give them regular updates. We are in daily contact with them.
"The key message from Dyfed Powys Police today is, while the operation will scale down over the Christmas period, work continues at a pace to make sure we are doing all that we can to find April and investigate her disappearance that night in Machynlleth.
"We will keep looking until we are satisfied that we have exhausted all lines of enquiry. We are not putting an end date on the operation, and we are not willing to speculate how much longer it will last, but we will say that we are committed to stay here until we can be sure that there are no more viable places to look for April's body."
April was abducted as she played out with friends on Machynlleth's Bryn-y-Gog estate where she lived, on October 1.
April, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was out late on her bike as a treat for getting a glowing school report earlier that day. She was last seen getting into what is believed to have been a Land Rover Discovery.
Local man Mark Bridger, 46, was arrested the following day and was later charged with the murder and abduction of the schoolgirl and perverting the course of justice by disposing of her body.