Bridger, 47, from Ceinws, Machynlleth, Powys, denies abducting and murdering five-year-old April on October 1 last year and intending to pervert the course of justice by concealing, disposing or destroying her body.
Mold Crown Court heard how Bridger accepted killing April, but claimed he had accidentally struck her in his Land Rover and then overcome with panic, adrenalin and alcohol, could not recall what he had done with the body.
But opening the Crown’s case against him Elwen Evans QC told the jury that Bridger’s murder of April had been sexually motivated.
Images of extreme child pornography were found on his laptop along with photographs of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, who were murdered in Soham by Ian Huntley.
Police also discovered images of April stored on his computer nine days before she was killed along with other photographs of local girls gleaned from Facebook and other social networking sites.
The jury were also told that traces of April’s blood were found in Bridger’s home, while fragments of human bone, probably from a juvenile, were discovered in his wood burning stove.
Bridger told police that he had kept some of the child porn images in order to complain about them to foreign internet companies, while others were on his computer because his own daughter wanted to become a model and he was interested in her development.
But Miss Evans told the jury: “You will have to decide if pretty five-year-old April was abducted and murdered or run over and accidentally killed as the defendant says.
“We say his interest in young girls, pornography and murder is all too relevant and is key to understanding what he did and why he did it.”
April disappeared from close to her home in Machynlleth on October 1 last year sparking the biggest search in British policing history.
Miss Evans said "happy and smiling" she had been seen getting into Bridger's Land Rover.
She added: "We know this because April's best friend saw the abduction taking place. She saw the defendant speaking to April, she saw April getting into the Land Rover vehicle and she saw the defendant driving April away."
Miss Evans said Bridger’s claims that he could not remember what he did with April’s body was a “cruel game”.
She said: “It is a game to try to save himself and manipulate his way out of his full responsibility for what he has done.”
Miss Evans told the jury of nine women and three men that in due course they would hear evidence of despite Bridger carrying out an extensive clean up operation in his home, traces of April’s blood and DNA were discovered.
She said: “There was a concentration of blood that matched April’s DNA in front of the wood burner in the living room. Around the wood burner there were a number of knives, in particular on the burner was a badly burned knife.”
The jury heard how Bridger was an experienced slaughter man, who knew how to use knives professionally.
When forensic experts examined the ashes inside the burner they found fragments of human bone that were probably from a juvenile rather than an adult.
Bridger, who was wearing a light blue short-sleeved shirt and striped tie, sat staring ahead as he listened to the evidence.
A large snake tattoo could be seen on his left forearm and he wore headphones to help him hear the proceedings.
April's parents Coral and Paul Jones sat in the front row of the public gallery, wearing pink ribbons.
The trial continues.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10027683/April-Jones-trial-blood-and-bone-found-in-Mark-Bridgers-house.html