The parents of five-year-old April Jones say they are glad the house where their daughter was murdered has been demolished.

Coral and Paul Jones said the secluded country cottage where paedophile Mark Bridger murdered their daughter had served as a constant reminder to them over the past two years.

The couple, joined by April's elder siblings Harley and Jazmin, choked back tears as a digger smashed to pieces the cottage rented by Bridger.

Mrs Jones said of the property: "It's just a constant reminder, and I'm glad it's gone. Even driving on the main road near the village is difficult. You go past and your head ultimately turns to that house. It brings back the horrible memories of what happened."

Mr Jones added: "Having this house demolished is symbolic. It's a sort of closure, the end of a chapter. All the time it has been here, its existence plays in the back of your mind.

"Even when you are not thinking about it, it's there in the back of your mind."

Bridger's home - called Mount Pleasant - was bought by the Welsh Government earlier this year.

The house is where the former lifeguard is believed to have killed and dismembered April after snatching her outside her parents' home in Machynlleth, Mid Wales on October 1, 2012.

During his trial Bridger, who is serving a life sentence for the abduction and murder of April, claimed he knocked over the youngster in his Land Rover and then in a drunken panic "forgot" what he had done with her.

April's body was never found, although forensics experts found fragments of a child's skull in a fireplace at Mount Pleasant.

In August the cottage was bought by the Welsh Government, for a sum believed to be about £149,000, and officials had promised to raze it to the ground.

Preparation work ahead of the demolition began earlier this month, with the roof as well as doors and windows being removed.

The final act of smashing it to the ground began at 10.40am yesterday.