Police search for the Latvian prime suspect find body of man in dense woodland in Boston Manor park, west London

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Police searching for the Latvian builder Arnis Zalkalns, the prime suspect in the murder of the London schoolgirl Alice Gross, have found the body of man.

The body was found in dense woodland in Boston Manor park in west London on Saturday.

Alice’s body was found in the river Brent, also in west London, on Tuesday. She had last been seen on 28 August after leaving her home in Hanwell.

Zalkalns, 41, disappeared a week later.

Police took the unusual step of naming him as the prime suspect after learning that he had a conviction for murdering his wife in Latvia.

The search for Zalkalns had extended to Latvia but proved fruitless. Two Scotland Yard officers made just one trip lasting two days. No international arrest warrant was issued because of the lack of any substantial evidence linking him to the murder.

On Friday David Cameron said he would examine all the circumstances of the case. “Anyone with a daughter will have just felt sickened by what has happened and what that poor family has had to go through,” he said.

The prime minister said he wanted to know “what lessons there are to learn, whether that is about exchanging information or whether that’s about the importance of keeping our country safe”.

A postmorten on Alice’s body carried out at Uxbridge mortuary took two days because of the “complex nature” of the investigation, but proved inconclusive, Scotland Yard said.

“No cause of death has been given at this time and further tests are required,” police said.

Julian Bell, the leader of Ealing council, said talks would be held with the family at a later stage over the prospect of a permanent memorial.

Hundreds of messages were added to a book of condolence set up in Ealing town hall. He said people “queued out the door” at one stage as they waited patiently in line to pay their respects.

The book will eventually be passed on to Alice’s family, while flags in the area were flown at half-mast as a mark of respect.

Alice’s parents, Rosalind Hodgkiss and Jose Gross, said: “We have been left completely devastated by the recent developments and it is difficult to comprehend that our sweet and beautiful daughter was the victim of a terrible crime.”