A bright sunny day greeted the first full day back to normal as families, football and fun returned to Boston Manor Park.
The site had remained at least partially cordoned off ever since the body of Alice Gross murder suspect Arnis Zalkalns was found hanging from a tree on October 4.
Yesterday (Sunday) the last of the officers had departed and people were once more free to go anywhere they liked.
It also marked the return to business of the Friends of Boston Manor cafe which had been shut for a week while manager Linda Massey was on holiday in Spain recovering from the stresses of the investigation.
Most visitors were content to remain in the top end where the playground, tennis courts, pond and Boston Manor House are, but there were also a large majority on the middle fields where Spartans Youth Football had three matches in progress.
Hardly anybody ventured down to the far south of the park, but getwestlondon went to see for ourselves what the scene where the body was discovered now looked like.
The first thing which was evident was how much of the ground beside the path which connects the Grand Union Canal entrance to the Boston Manor Road entrance has been badly churned up by the constant comings and goings of police vehicles.
The site where the body was actually found had been scrubbed of most of its vegetation which had been left in large piles on the meadow.
However, even when it had been in its natural state it was clear the description ‘dense woodland’ was fairly wide of the mark - the site was a small copse at best.
A man (who asked not to be named) walking his dog past the scene said: “They’ve made a right mess of this haven’t they?” before going on to express amazement the body was not discovered sooner. He said: “My dog loves to chase the rats and mice that live in the bushes, if he’d run in there a few weeks ago it could have been me finding the body.”
The police may have left the park, but they had not gone far as literally the other side of the fence is the canal where we observed several officers and a man in scuba gear again searching the water.
Families and cyclists were still being allowed to access the towpath, but it was clear the investigation and search for evidence is far from over despite both victim and suspect having been found.Mrs Massey said: “It’s nice to be back to normal and we’ve had people coming in all day to see how we are and to thank us for our hard work. There’s a real sense of wanting to clear away the shadows of what’s passed, and look to a much brighter future.”
Today (Monday) Mrs Massey and representatives from Hounslow Council and its park contractor Carillion were due to assess the south of the park to see what damage needs repairing and to arrange to have all the vegetation and rubbish removed.
