Updated

British prosecutors have charged a man with the murder of a missing 5-year-old girl in Wales.

The 46-year-old Mark Bridger was also charged Saturday with child abduction and attempting to pervert the course of justice. He has been in custody since Tuesday, a day after April Jones went missing from outside her home in the Welsh town of Machynlleth.

She was last seen by another child getting into a gray van.

The girl's disappearance sparked a huge search effort with hundreds of local volunteers combing woods and fields. She still has not been found, but a prosecutor said there was enough evidence to charge Bridger with murder.

Bridger is due to appear at Aberystwyth Magistrates' Court on Monday.