The coroner in the Alice Gross inquest is set to send the jury out on Friday (July 1) to consider their verdicts after five days of evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Coroner Fiona Wilcox told jurors on the inquest's first day that the aim of the hearing was to establish the cause of death, and any possible failings in the system around the circumstances of death.

Alice's body was found in a bag in the Grand Union Canal on September 30 2014, and the man that it was concluded likely killed her, Arnis Zalkalns , was found hanged in Boston Manor Park four days later.

Addressing the jury on Friday morning, the coroner asked them to decide if Zalkalns carried out Alice's killing and if this should be classed as unlawful killing by murder or unlawful killing by manslaughter.

She did however stress that the UK police force or Home Office should not be held directly responsible for Alice's death, and the jury have not been tasked with coming to such a conclusion.

Instead, they must simply come back with their findings on several aspects of the investigation, including if the Latvian authorities ever placed Zalkalns on a 'watch list' and if this could or should have prevented him from entering the UK undetected.

Emotional plea began inquest

The jury heard from the mother of Alice, Ros Hodgkiss, on the first day who spoke of how the family were stunned that Zalkalns was not monitored by police , even though he had a foreign criminal record for the murder of his wife in Latvia.

They also heard from Dr Ashley Fegan-Earl, who carried out the post mortem on Alice who said that he was satisfied that Alice had died an "unnatural death".

DCI Andy Chalmers told jurors at London's Royal Courts of Justice on Monday (June 27) only became aware that Zalkalns had previously been convicted for killing his wife weeks after Alice went missing when he became a suspect following his disappearance and they carried out a check on him.

Detective Superintendent Michael Forteath told the inquest on Tuesday (June 28) how there was no policy or routine checking of individuals entering the country and that it was not mandatory for officers to carry these out.

The jury also heard how Zalkalns had come to the police's attention in 2009 for an alleged sexual assault, but there was procedure in place to check if he had any criminal record in Latvia, although officers could have made these checks if they knew how to carry them out.

Criminal record checks discussed

Superintendent Forteath went on to tell the hearing that the Association of Criminal Records Office (ACRO) was the organisation that police would go through.

However, when Zalkalns was identified as a suspect in the murder, an ACRO check came back with nothing as his murder conviction was considered 'spent' in Latvia.

Also giving evidence, DI Jeff Tachauer told the inquest how the Multi-Agency Public Protection Agreement (MAPPA), which is in place to ensure the successful management of violent and sexual offenders, would not have picked up on Zalkalns because his conviction was outside of the country.

He said that Zalkalns could have come under the radar of MAPPA, but it was very unlikely, even with his murder conviction.

The Home Office also gave evidence to the jury and David Cheesman stated that he could not guarantee that if Zalkalns were to enter the country now, he would be deported or refused access to the UK .

He added that he didn't anticipate leaving the EU would affect their ability to prevent foreign criminals entering the country.

The jury could return its verdict by the end of the day.