The family of murdered Hanwell teenager Alice Gross made an emotional plea for lessons to be learnt outside court following a "torturous" inquest.
On Monday (July 4), on the sixth day of a new inquest into Alice's death at the Royal Courts of Justice in London found that the 14-year-old was "unlawfully killed" in a sexually motivated attack .
The 14-year-old is believed to have died at the hands of builder Arnis Zalkalns, who was allowed to enter the UK years earlier despite having served a prison sentence for murdering his wife .
Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox said she will raise concerns with the Home Office over checks on foreign nationals following the verdict.
But, despite welcoming the review of these practices, the Gross family said in their statement they remain firm believers in the EU and freedom of movement.
'Losing Alice has shattered me'
Speaking outside court Alice's father, Jose Gross, said: "As Alice's father, losing Alice has shattered me.
"The pain of knowing I will never see, hear or cuddle her again is unbearable.
"This inquest has helped me face what has happened and hopefully now I will be able to properly grieve for my beautiful, loving daughter".
Outside court, he added: "It has taken us almost two years to get to this point and we are grateful to the coroner for the time she has given us through this Article 2 inquest to properly consider whether or not there were any failings in the wider circumstances in our daughters death.
"We are pleased that a coroner seems likely to make a number of recommendations to the police and Home Office to improve their systems which reflect our concerns.
"We are also very grateful to the jury for their attentiveness to the issues in coming to their extremely powerful conclusions."
He added: "We would like to take this chance to reiterate that, like Alice, our family is in favour of freedom of movement, in favour of the EU and all the good things it has brought to our lives.
"We do not believe any citizen deserves to be treated differently based on their race or nationality.
"We ask in the strongest terms that our position not be misunderstood or abused in order to support an anti-immigrant position, with which we profoundly disagree, particularly in the current political climate.
"Our concern has been to ensure that there are fair and proportionate rules governing the movement of serious criminals within Europe.
"Whether that is a Latvian coming to the UK or a dangerous UK citizen travelling abroad.
"We believe that had such measures had been in place Alice's death might have been prevented.
"We do not want to see another tragic example of a pointless and avoidable death, we do not want another family to suffer what we've been through and that was our main goal in going through this torturous inquest".
'I believe the state failed Alice and our family'
Alice, a Brentside High School pupil, disappeared from her home in Hanwell, Ealing, on August 28 2014, before her body was found in the River Brent on September 30, wrapped in bin bags and weighed down by bricks.
Zalkalns was found hanged in a park on October 4 and police said the 41-year-old would have been charged with Alice's murder had he been alive.
Speaking outside court, Alice's mum, Ros Hodgkiss, said: "I still find it almost impossible to believe that our lovely daughter has been so brutally taken from us.
"I miss her every moment of every day.
"I have felt the need to find out as much as I can about how it is possible that she could have been killed in such a horrific way, and to try and change things so that it doesn't happen to anyone else."
Alice's sister, Nina Gross, added outside court: "I feel that it is sometimes forgotten that Alice was a real person; a kind and loving sister who deserved so much to live a full life.
"Life is broken and cold without her.
"Regardless of whether legal responsibility can be attributed to the State for Alice's death, I believe the state failed Alice and our family.
"Alice was not tragic, but what happened to her was".
You can donate to the Alice Gross Youth Music Memorial Fund here .
