Police searching for suspect in schoolgirl murder find body

Police searching for Latvian builder Arnis Zalkalns — the prime suspect in the murder of schoolgirl Alice Gross — have found the body of a man in dense woodland.

Alice (14) from Hanwell, west London, went missing on August 28 and police confirmed on Wednesday that her body had been recovered from the River Brent in west London, near where she was last seen.

In a short statement, Scotland Yard said: "We can confirm that officers working on the Alice Gross murder investigation, in their continued widening search have today found the body of a man in dense woodland in Boston Manor Park.

Alice was last seen on CCTV walking along the towpath beside the Grand Union Canal near her home on the afternoon of August 28th.

Nearly three weeks later investigators realised that Zalkalns, who was reported missing by his family on September 5th, had been cycling behind her.

He served seven years in prison in his native country for bludgeoning and stabbing his wife Rudite to death.

The general labourer, who worked at a building site in Isleworth, west London, is believed to have come to the UK in 2007, but authorities here are thought to have had no record of his murder conviction.

Alice’s disappearance prompted an outpouring of support in her local community, where yellow ribbons and bows still adorn the streets.

David Cameron has said he will examine "all the circumstances of the case" surrounding the murder of Alice, whose body was recovered on Tuesday.

The prime minister has described it as a “horrific case”, and said: “Anyone with a daughter will have just felt sickened by what has happened and what that poor family has had to go through.”

PA