April Jones: Tributes paid to murdered schoolgirl's father after 'unexpected' death
April, who was five years old at the time of her death, was taken from outside her home in Machynlleth, mid Wales, in October 2012.
She was murdered by paedophile Mark Bridger, who was sentenced to a whole life tariff.
April's father Paul Jones contracted a brain disease in 2018, six years after the death of his daughter.
Announcing his death on Tuesday, Mr Jones's stepdaughter Jazz Jones said: "It is with broken hearts that my brother and I wish to let people know our dad (Paul Jones) passed away early hours this morning."
Miss Jones said his death was "very unexpected" and the family were "all in shock".
She asked for privacy as the family mourned the loss of Mr Jones.
In a social media post, family friend Allan Hughes described Mr Jones as "a truly amazing friend".
"A lot of you knew him as the father of poor April Jones who was taken from us in 2012," he said.
"But myself and many more know him from being a great dad, son, brother and friend, also as part of the family."
He said Mr Jones would now be "reunited with April and [his] mam" and added that his "thoughts and prayers" were with his family.
After Mr Jones contracted the brain condition encephalitis in 2018, he suffered memory loss.
He had to learn of his daughter's death for a second time after he was diagnosed with the condition.
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'We don't want to say too much about Ms Flaherty and what some of the local community think about her because we know what we think. Our lawyers made this clear during the inquest and nothing has changed.' At the inquest, three of Mr Grogan's cousins, Alo, Margaret and Seán were represented by barrister Damien Tansey. His 90-year-old aunt, Teresa Mooney was represented by solicitor Peter Jones. All challenged the validity of the marriage while calling on the coroner to order a police investigation and return a verdict of unlawful killing. But the coroner delivered a 'narrative verdict' which is an account of the circumstances surrounding a death rather than a direct ruling as to its cause. He said that it was probably due to an infection associated with Mr Grogan's cancer, chemotherapy treatment, damage to the immune system, and significant weight loss. 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She recently appeared with her three children at a media event to announce this year's competition which will be staged from September 16-18 where she was named as 'Lisa Flaherty Grogan.' As her close friend Margaret maintained: 'She has every right to take Joe's name and his farm. She's the one who did all the hard work and he wanted to make sure she was financially cared for after he died. There's nothing more to this case than that.'
