Police believe body in west London wood is Alice Gross suspect Police searching for Arnis Zalkalns, the prime suspect in the murder of schoolgirl Alice Gross, found a body on Saturday that they believe to be that of the Latvian builder. The body was discovered in dense woodland in Boston Manor Park, west London, at 2pm around a mile from where Alice was found last Tuesday night. Her body was discovered in the Brent river, wrapped in plastic sheeting and covered with heavy logs. Scotland Yard said: Although no formal identification has been made, early indications suggest the body may be that of Arnis Zalkalns. We have updated his partner and a family liaison officer is supporting her. Due to the nature of the surrounding area, specialist resources will be required to assist with the recovery of the body, which will not take place until Sunday. Officers have been searching for Zalkalns, a 41-year-old builder, who went missing six days after Alice disappeared. Detectives had announced that they wanted to question him after he had been seen cycling along the Grand Union Canal towpath 15 minutes after Alice had last been seen there on CCTV while out for a walk in August. Police suspected Zalkalns might still be in Britain. On Friday they revealed that they were examining CCTV footage showing the Latvian withdrawing cash in Isleworth, west London, before he went missing. The footage was said to show Zalkalns using a cash machine at a Co-op supermarket close to where he worked as a jobbing labourer. Police had warned that he clearly poses a risk to the public and urged anyone who spotted Zalkalns not to approach him. It emerged during the hunt that Zalkalns was a convicted criminal who had spent seven years in jail for the brutal murder of his wife, Rudite, in 1997. He battered and stabbed her before burying her body in remote woodland near the Latvian capital, Riga. The revelation provoked a furore, with claims that the Home Office was unaware of his criminal record when he entered the country in 2007. It also emerged that, in 2009, Zalkalns was arrested in London on suspicion of committing an indecent assault on a 14-year-old girl, but was never charged. The subsequent debate on foreign criminals saw the BBCs Question Time issue an apology on Friday to Alices family. Her sister said the shows decision to feature a question linking the murder to immigration was horrible. Nina Gross described the BBC programme as extremely insensitive after the panel debated whether convicted criminals ought to be allowed to move across Europe. David Cameron has also promised to examine all the circumstances surrounding the murder, describing the case as horrific and one that sickened him. He said: Anyone with a daughter will have just felt sickened by what has happened and what that poor family has had to go through. Speaking after Alices body was found, her parents, Rosalind Hodgkiss and Jose Gross, said: We have been left completely devastated by the recent developments and it is difficult to comprehend that our sweet and beautiful daughter was the victim of a terrible crime. Why anyone would want to hurt her is something that we are struggling to come to terms with. Alice was a loving and much-loved daughter and sister, a quirky live spark of a girl, beautiful inside and out. Her disappearance prompted the biggest police operation in London since the 7/7 bombings. Police hunting the killer had revealed that Zalkalns had not accessed his bank account or used his mobile phone since 3 September, nor had he returned home to his partner and young child. He had also left behind his passport. Forensic officers searched his semi-detached house in Ealing as part of their investigation.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 10:18:29 +0000
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