Missing Alice Gross: Police reveal 'area of interest' in hunt for schoolgirl

Parents' plea as police recreate Alice's last known journey
Emotional: Alice performing at an audition

Detectives investigating the disappearance of missing schoolgirl Alice Gross have identified an "area of interest" in a west London park, Scotland Yard said.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said a section of Elthorne Park, in Hanwell, Ealing, was being assessed as part of the inquiry.

He said: "As part of the ongoing search operation we have identified an area that is currently being assessed. It will be subject to further examination to determine if it is relevant to this investigation.

Reconstruction: a police cadet repeats the last known movements of missing schoolgirl Alice Gross (Picture: Getty)

"The area of interest is in Elthorne Park."

It comes moments after investigators staged a reconstruction of the last time the 14-year-old was seen on a towpath four weeks ago.

She was last captured on CCTV at 4.26pm on August 28, walking alongside the Grand Union Canal going under a bridge where Trumpers Way crosses the canal.

Police are also looking for convicted murderer Arnis Zalkalns in connection with her disappearance.

Today her parents Rosalind Hodgkiss, 50, and Jose Gross, 60, along with sister Nina, 19, told Alice: “We want to see your smile again.”

The family said: “Alice has been missing for four weeks now. We are desperately concerned about her welfare and worry constantly about what may have happened to her.

“We are appealing to Alice. If you are out there, to come home where you belong. We love you and we miss you. We want to see your smile again, we want to hear you sing again, or sit at the piano. We want to be a family again.

“The whole family, all your friends, the community and the police are united in trying to bring you home.”

They added: “We are also appealing to anyone out there who knows anything about Alice’s disappearance or where she is to come forward now.

“We cannot believe that Alice is not at home with us and every morning brings new agony. We dearly love our daughter and Nina dearly loves her sister.

“Please, please help us.”

Alice went missing on Thursday August 28 after leaving her home at Hanwell at about 1pm.

SHe walked along the canal to Brentford Lock where she was caught on CCTV crossing the canal bridge at 3.45pm.

Fifteen minutes later Zalkalns was also spotted on camera cycling across the same bridge.

Alice was last seen on CCTV at 4.26pm walking along the canal towpath under Trumpers Way bridge, heading back towards Hanwell.

Since then there have been no further sightings of her.

Zalkalns, a 41 year old Latvian, went missing from his Ealing home on September 3.

Scotland Yard hope the reconstruction of Alice’s last known movements will help jog people’s memory of the afternoon she vanished.

In the reconstruction this morning a 17-year-old police cadet called Chloe went to Brentford Lock, where Alice was caught on CCTV at 3.45pm that day.

Wearing similar clothes to those Alice was wearing, she then followed the canal back up to Trumpers Way Bridge.

Chloe, from east London, said: “I’m really glad to be able help out. Anything I can do help find out what happened to Alice must be a good thing.”

Alice is said to be a very fast “power walker” so the cadet playing her was moving at pace.

Alice as pictured as an infant in an image released today by her family

A police spokesman said: “We are particularly keen to reconstruct this so that people can get a clear image of how Alice would have looked that day, with the same glasses and shoes and everything. The CCTV images are grainy so this will give better images that may jog people’s memories.”

Detective Superintendent Carl Mehta, from the Met’s homicide and major crime command, said: “Today my appeal is simple. Did you see Alice that afternoon? Have you seen her since? We need your help to find her.

“Just as Alice reached the bridge it started to rain heavily. Think back and try to remember if you were out and about in that area that afternoon. It was during the summer holidays and the canal is a really popular place locally.

“We know that Alice loved the rain, so she probably would have kept walking in it rather than seek shelter. There are many paths and turn offs from that canal towpath. We don’t know the route that Alice took, so please think back to that Thursday four weeks ago and call us if you can help.”

He added: “We still need your help to find Alice and bring her home to her family.”

Alice, who is 5ft 2in tall and of very slim build with shoulder-length, light brown hair, was wearing dark blue jeans and a dark t-shirt when she disappeared. She also had on her tartan framed glasses.

She was carrying a dark rucksack, and wearing denim blue Vans trainers which were found in her rucksack when it was found by police in undergrowth beside the canal September 2.

As part of the fresh appeal for information, her family released a series of pictures of Alice as well as a poignant video of the teenager singing Out Here On My Own, as sung by Irene Cara in the musical Fame, as she rehearsed for a recital.

As she reaches her final note, an unseen audience is heard applauding Alice, who smiles nervously as she is given advice for her performance.

The hunt is the largest Met Police search operation since the 7/7 terrorist bombings in 2005, with 600 officers from eight forces involved.

A reward of up to £20,000 is being offered for anyone who has information that leads detectives to find her.

A map of her last known movements

Officers have also travelled to Latvia in a bid to trace prime suspect Zalkalns. Yesterday, Scotland Yard commander Graham McNulty admitted his officers would have no power to arrest Zalkalns, who served seven years in prison for stabbing his wife Rudite Zalkalns to death, if he is found in his native Latvia or elsewhere.

Retracing footsteps: Chloe, a 17-year-old police cadet, wears a Vans backpack similar to the one worn by Alice Gross (Picture: Getty)

He said the force would need to be “charge ready” to apply for a European Arrest Warrant, and has not done so because this would stop officers being able to interview the suspect.

The labourer who works at a building site in Isleworth, west London, is thought to have come to the UK in 2007, but authorities here apparently had no record of his murder conviction.

He is 5ft 10ins and stocky, with dark brown hair that he normally wears tied in a pony tail.

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