Alice Inquest - Police Unaware Of Zalkalns Conviction

Jury at Royal Courts of Justice hearing evidence about death of Hanwell teenager

The inquest into the death of Alice Gross has heard that no criminal record check was done in 2009 when Arnis Zalkans was arrested for indecent assault.

Zalkalns, from Latvia had been convicted of murdering his wife in his native country. He came to the UK in 2007 and two years later was questioned on suspicion of indecent assault, but faced no further action.

Det Supt Michael Forteath told the hearing said, that at the time there was "no routine checking of individuals entering the UK".

Alice's body was found by a search team in the River Brent, near her home in Hanwell, on the 30 September 2014.

The inquest has already heard evidence that she had been sexually assaulted and asphyxiated.

Zalkalns was later found hanged in Boston Manor Park.

The court's heard that DNA found made it likely that Zalkans, the suspect, was the killer.

The inquest is examining why he was allowed to live unchecked in the UK and is also looking at whether failures by the government and the police contributed to Alice's death.

On Monday Alice's mother, Rosalind Hodgkiss, said she was stunned Zalkalns was not being monitored.

Reading from a prepared statement she said said the family wanted to "establish whether or not the systems for monitoring foreign offenders and cross-border sharing of information are robust".

She added: "We appreciate that they may have changed significantly, but we remain stunned that a foreign national with a conviction for murder was not monitored, or even known about in any way.

"This has destroyed much of our faith in our country's ability to protect its citizens.

"The Home Office and the police forces nationwide should be doing everything they can to ensure that this should not be allowed to happen again."

The inquest continues.

30th June 2016