AN inquest may rule on whether it should investigate what the authorities knew, or should have known, about the migrant killer of a schoolgirl.

 

Alice Gross, 14, was murdered by Latvian builder, Arnis Zalkalns, 41,who had come to the UK in 2007, in west London last year. He later took his own life.

Now Liberty, a human rights group representing Alice's family, has made submissions that the case engages Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, enshrined into UK law in the Human Rights Act.

If the coroner agrees, the forthcoming inquest would not be limited to looking solely into the cause of her death, but could also consider the broader circumstances surrounding it.

In January this year, police confirmed they believed Zalkalns was responsible. The Crown Prosecution Service said he would have been charged with murder.

Zalkalns had previously been convicted of the murder of his wife in Latvia. He had been imprisoned, but was released and travelled to the UK.

A spokesman for Liberty said: "It appears the British authorities were not aware of his conviction. In 2009, he was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on a teenage girl in London, but charges were not brought and he was released.

"Alice's family wishes to know how it can be that - within EU member states - basic information-sharing cannot be arranged to ensure authorities are notified of the presence of people who pose a potentially high risk to the public.

"The family is aware that a system appears to exist for extracting information about foreign nationals from their home country if they are arrested in the UK, and wishes to know why - when Zalkalns was arrested in 2009 - further inquiries were not made of Latvian authorities.

"In the UK, a convicted murderer, if released, would be on licence for the rest of his or her life - meaning they could be recalled to prison if considered to pose an increased risk to the public. Serious concerns arise as to whether similar safeguards exist in relation to people who come to this country with the same type of conviction."

Liberty's Emma Norton, the solicitor for Alice's family, said: "What happened to Alice appears to have come about, in part, because the authorities knew nothing about this man.

The hearing will be held at West London Coroner's Court today.