April Jones's remains will be buried

The five-year-old, from Machynlleth, who was murdered by former slaughterman Mark Bridger, will finally be laid to rest almost a year after she was killed.

Just 17 small bones remain after April was snatched from her pink bicycle on October 1.

April's mother and father, Coral and Paul, plan to place the remains in a white coffin so their daughter's hearse can be drawn by pink-plumed horses through her home town.

Her parents have been told by police the bones will be released when a formal inquest opens on Monday.

Hundreds are expected at April's pink-themed funeral later this month. Coral said it was huge relief to finally be able to lay their daughter to rest.

She said: "Our hell this past year has been made worse because we did not have April's body."

Recently, Coral and Paul, along with family and friends, collected the Powys and Montgomeryshire Best Estate award in Powys County Council's Gardening Awards.

The couple collected the award on behalf of the residents of Machynlleth's Bryn y Gog Estate, where they live, at a meeting of the council's Montgomeryshire Committee in Welshpool on Wednesday.

The garden, which is on the Bryn y Gog estate where April lived, was built by a team of about 15 people and also features a "hugging tree" wrapped in pink bows.