Arnis Zalkalns bought red roses ‘for his wife’.

The man suspected of murdering Hanwell school girl Alice Gross pulled up outside Flowers By Ellisa in West Drayton on the now familiar mountain bike, wearing the backpack seen in images viewed millions of times in the CCTV pictures released by police.

“It was probably four to six months ago, sometime in the summer,” said proprietor Ellisa Bath.

“He asked for roses. His English wasn’t very good.

“When we asked how he was going to get them home he said he had his backpack and was on his bike.

“He said they were for his wife.

“When you (getwestlondon.co.uk) put his picture up ... I never forget a face, and I remember him coming in.”

Zalkalns was jailed in his native Latvia for murdering his ex-wife, Rudite. He was living in Boston Manor Road, Hanwell, with his girlfriend, Katerina Laiblova, a year ago.

“When I saw your photo I thought: My God, that’s him,” said Ms Bath.

“He stood out because of the bike and the rucksack and then the photo – it all came together.

Arnis Zalkalns caught on CCTV 15 minutes after Alice Gross

“It’s a little bit unnerving, but now I know he has gone it’s not so bad.

“‘Innocent until proven guilty’, I suppose, but there you go.”

Ms Bath said when Zalkalns came into her shop he had the short hair shown in some photographs, not the longer style with a fleshier face of other images.

Zalklans’s body was removed from Boston Manor Park last weekend. The police investigation into Alice’s death continues.

Yesterday (Tuesday, October 7) police, including officers in forensics suits, were seen entering a house that is to let, in Swan Road, West Drayton , across the road from Flowers By Ellisa, where Zalkalns is believed to have been working on refurbishments this summer.