Girlfriend tells court he had 'no bad core'

The partner of the man believed to have murdered Hanwell teenager, Alice Gross, last year has told his inquest hearing that he didn't have a 'bad core'.

In a written statement read out at West London Coroner's Court, Katerina Laiblova, said she was struggling to accept that Arnis Zalkalns was involved in the 14-year-old's death.

She said: '' I'm having great difficulty accepting he had anything to do with her [Alice's] disappearance or her murder."

"I cannot think of any motive he had. I can only think if he was involved in an accident.

"He doesn't have a bad core.''

In the statement, Ms Laiblova, who had a child with Zalkalns, said ''I saw a photograph of Alice and she looked a bit like his ex-partner in that she's very thin."

Prior to moving to the UK from Latvia, Zalkalns had served seven years killing his former wife Rudite (in 1998).

He is believed to have moved here in 2007, although the British authorities appeared to have been unaware of the murder conviction.

Det Sgt Michael Hartley told the inquest there was strong evidence to implicate Zalkalns in Alice's murder and DNA evidence suggested the attack may have been sexually motivated.

"The abduction and subsequent murder of Alice could have [been] a completely random, opportunistic attack formulated by Zalkalns when he passed Alice on that day."

Police have said Arnis Zalkalns, 41, would have been charged with Alice's murder had he lived.

Coroner, Chinyere Inyama, ruled that Zalkalns, who was found hanged in Boston Manor Park, on October 4th last year, days after the missing teen's body was dredged from the Grand Union Canal, took his own life.

16th September 2015