Schoolgirl’s body ‘hidden under logs on riverbed’

London Evening Standard/London

A post-mortem examination on the body of murdered schoolgirl Alice Gross was continuing yesterday after it emerged she had been buried in an underwater “grave”.

The 14-year-old, from Hanwell, was found wrapped in plastic sheets and carefully concealed in the riverbed beneath heavy logs.

Details of the lengths to which the teenager’s killer went to hide her corpse were revealed as Scotland Yard faced questions over why it had taken more than four weeks to find her.

The stretch of the River Brent where she was discovered on Tuesday night is just yards from where her rucksack was previously recovered, and a five-minute walk from where she was last seen alive on CCTV.

Dive teams had searched the same section of river early on in the investigation into her disappearance.

Scotland Yard said “significant efforts” had been made by her killer to conceal her body.

Pathologists were yesterday trying to establish how she died amid fears crucial DNA evidence to track her killer may have been lost over the time her body was submerged.

A leading criminologist suggested the killing was pre-meditated rather than a random attack.

David Wilson, professor of criminology at Birmingham City University, said it could have been a “carefully orchestrated operation” because it appeared the killer had managed to avoid CCTV and witnesses when carrying out the murder and then disposing of the body.

Met Commander Graham McNulty, leading the investigation, said recovering evidence from the scene would take “some time”, adding: “I would urge anyone who may know something to come forward.”

Alice’s parents Rosalind Hodgkiss, 50, and Jose Gross, 60, said they had been left “completely devastated” by the death of their daughter. The local community was united in an outpouring of grief, with prayers said by candlelight at an impromptu gathering at the town’s clock tower.

In a statement, the couple said: “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 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.

“She was a funny companion, a loyal friend, both passionate and compassionate, and so talented with a bright future ahead of her. She brought so much joy to our family.”

Police renewed appeals for help in tracing prime suspect and convicted murderer Arnis Zalkalns, who was caught on CCTV cycling a short distance behind Alice on the day she vanished, and who disappeared a week later.

Detectives fear he may have fled to his native Latvia, but have admitted they would have no power to arrest him if he is found because they currently do not have enough evidence to issue a European Arrest Warrant.

Officers were seen searching a tool shed in gated estate Heron’s Court in Isleworth, where Zalkalns, 41, had been working as a decorator.