Schoolgirl Alice Gross was unlawfully killed in sex attack, jury finds
The murder of a schoolgirl at the hands of a convicted Latvian killer would not have been prevented by background checks, a force has said.
The murder of a schoolgirl at the hands of a convicted Latvian killer would not have been prevented by background checks, a force has said.
Arnis Zalkalns is believed to be responsible for the 2014 killing of Alice Gross, whose body was discovered in the River Brent after the biggest search conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) since the 7/7 bombings.
The MPS later said that had Zalkalns not been found dead in a park just days after Alices body was recovered, he would have been charged with the murder.
An inquest jury at the Royal Courts of Justice has now concluded that Alice was unlawfully killed, as her injuries were consistent with compression asphyxia, and was victim to a sexually-motivated attack.
However, coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox ruled that evidence given in court showed that the Home Office and the MPS had not contributed to Alices death.
One of the key issues in the inquiry was whether or not the MPS could have deported Zalkalns had his overseas offending history been discovered.
Zalkans was allowed to enter and live in the UK unchecked, despite having served a prison sentence for murdering his wife in Latvia.
The MPS failed to pick up on this fact when it detained Zalkalns on suspicion of sexual assault in 2009, as it was not official policy to conduct background checks on foreign offenders at that time.
Responding to Mondays (July 4) verdict, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse said: If we were to arrest a foreign national it is now our policy to check their offending history. In 2009, that was not the case, in the MPS or policing nationally, and this check was not done.
However, even if we had identified Zalkalns conviction in that year it would not have changed the outcome of his arrest.
We recognise that had we carried out the check in 2009 then it would have meant that our investigation into Alices disappearance may have identified him as a suspect slightly sooner.
Sadly, in reality nothing would have changed as all the evidence strongly points to the fact that both Alice and Zalkalns were dead prior to them being reported missing.
After the jury reached its verdict, Dr Wilcox read out a list of recommendations regarding foreign national cases she is highly likely to make to the Home Office.
These included:
Making it mandatory for all English and Welsh police forces to perform criminal records and Interpol checks on foreign criminals;
Continuing the Home Office policy of encouraging all countries to regularly update their watch lists;
Introducing audit systems to ensure checks are being performed and lists updated; and
Considering contingency plans for exchanging information with EU countries after the recent EU referendum result.
Alices family have now demanded tougher controls to prevent foreign criminals entering the UK.
Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice, her father called for fair and proportionate rules governing the movement of serious criminals within Europe.
He added: We believe if such measures were in place Alices death might have been prevented.
We do not want to see another tragic example of a pointless and avoidable death we do not want another family to suffer what weve been through.