Mother tells memorial service of anger at loss of murdered Alice

Ros Hodgkiss revealed she keeps asking herself if there was anything she could have done to prevent the “random, incomprehensible tragedy” of the 14-year-old’s brutal slaying.

She and Alice’s father Jose Gross spoke to hundreds of people who attended an emotional memorial service yesterday for the teenager Greenford, near her west London home, with scores waiting in the pouring rain beforehand to pay their respects.

Many of the assembled crowd were in tears as Ms Hodgkiss said: “I have been numbed by shock and grief, I have felt outrage and anger at the loss of her life and unbelievable sadness at the emptiness that has been left.

“I have racked my brains for all the ‘what ifs’ of that day, anything that might have stopped this random, incomprehensible tragedy. It is even harder to talk about that pain than it is to talk about Alice. I cannot imagine life without Alice.”

Ms Hodgkiss added that she would miss Alice most on all the special family occasions, adding: “I think of all the ... hugs, shared jokes, evenings spent snuggled on the sofa, goodnight kisses, the confidence of after-school conversations, Alice playing the piano in her dressing gown (and) singing, shopping, baking, the way Alice still called me ‘mummy’.”

Alice was last seen alive walking along a tow path in London on August 28. It is believed she was murdered by convicted killer Arnis Zalkalns, who was caught on CCTV following her on his bike. Despite the biggest police search since the aftermath of the July 7 bombings, it was more than a month before her body was found weighted down in the River Brent, near her Hanwell home.

Zalkalns, who had previously served seven years for murdering his wife Rudite in his native Latvia, was found hanged in nearby Boston Manor Park on October 4, four weeks after he was reported missing.