Alice Gross missing: Chief suspect Arnis Zalkalns could have returned to Latvia

Huge search operation involves 600 officers

Alice Gross, the teenager missing since 28 August (PA)

A convicted murderer who is wanted in connection with the disappearance of London teenager Alice Gross could have returned to his native Latvia, police in the Baltic state said today.

Arnis Zalkalns, 41, a builder, was named as a suspect by police looking for the 14-year-old girl, who went missing nearly a month ago. He disappeared from his home six days later. Latvian police, who are co-operating with their UK counterpart, told the BBC that Mr Zalkalns could have got into the country without the authorities’ knowledge if he had crossed a land border.

Latvian police spokesman Tom Sadovskis said: “He has definitely not come to Latvia by plane. He would now be in detention if so.”

In London, detectives have appealed to shopkeepers to save their stores’ security camera footage in the hope that it shows either Mr Zalkalns or Alice. Scotland Yard’s largest search operation for nearly a decade was focused on and around the miles of canalside tracks in west London. They are fed by dozens of paths where the teenager could have emerged after she was last captured on a security camera at 4.26pm on 28 August.

Mr Zalkalns has not been seen since 3 September. Police last week named him as a suspect in the case after it emerged that he travelled to and from work along a similar route and that he had a conviction for murdering his wife in Latvia from 1998.

“While we have already seized many hundreds of hours of CCTV we still need the public’s help,” said Chief Superintendent Carl Mehta. “If you are a shop owner, have CCTV at your home, or were out filming in the areas of Ealing and Hanwell and have footage from the afternoon of Thursday 28 August when Alice was last seen, and right up to 3 September when Arnis Zalkalns was last seen, then please get in touch with us.”

Police search teams were operating on Sunday from a golf course and garden centre close to the three-mile stretch of land unseen by security cameras that covered woodland, industrial estates, playing grounds and a children’s zoo.

The force said over the weekend that 600 officers were involved in the search that had trawled miles of waterways and land using dog teams and divers.

They have also searched the last two homes linked to Mr Zalkalns, including the house in Ealing that he shared with his partner and their one-year-old daughter. The owner of a house who previously rented property to Mr Zalkalns’ partner said police told him they had completed their searches.

The property – a terrace house split into seven bedsits – is close to the canal path where Alice was last seen. The landlord, Radoslav Andric, said that he last saw Mr Zalkalns two days before he went missing when he returned to see friends and brought a broken bicycle with him.

It has emerged that Mr Zalkalns was arrested over an allegation of indecent assault against a 14-year-old in 2009 but the investigation was discontinued when the alleged victim declined to press charges.