Alice Gross: RAF drafted in to help police search

More than 1,000 calls have been made to Scotland Yard's incident room about Alice's disappearance

The RAF has been drafted in to help police search for missing schoolgirl Alice Gross.

The 14-year-old has been missing since 28 August, when she was filmed on CCTV walking along the Grand Union Canal.

Convicted murderer, 41, Arnis Zalkalns remains the prime suspect. He was filmed cycling along the canal 15 minutes after Alice.

Scotland Yard said the RAF would be providing an "aerial analysis" to locate areas that should be searched.

Arnis Zalkalns has not been seen since 3 September

Mr Zalkalns went missing from his Ealing home on 3 September.

The Latvian was convicted of his wife's murder in 1998 and served seven years in jail before moving to the UK in 2007.

About 6,000 runners wore yellow ribbons, which have become the symbol in the #FindAlice appeal, when they ran in the Ealing Half Marathon earlier.

Race director Kelvin walker said: "We run through an area where she lives and quite close to where her school is, so it's a very poignant day. The whole course is littered with ribbons, it's a very emotional sight.

"We've got 6,000 bows of ribbons here which have been created by the community in the last two or three days and we expect virtually every runner will be wearing a ribbon."

On Saturday, the Met said 30 detectives were viewing footage from 300 CCTV cameras. Earlier this week, a reconstruction of Alice's last known movements prompted 150 new calls from the public.

Detectives have also been in the Latvian capital Riga, although Scotland Yard said there was no evidence to suggest Mr Zalkalns was there and stressed he was one of many lines of inquiry.

Alice's parents have urged the public to "please, please help us" in the search for their daughter.

Her mother Rosalind Hodgkiss said: "Every morning, as Alice's disappearance grows longer and longer, brings new agony, new anguish."

The hunt for Alice, from Hanwell, west London, is the largest Met Police search operation since the 7/7 terrorist bombings in 2005, with 600 officers from more than 20 police forces and specialist units involved.

A reward of up to £20,000 is being offered for anyone who has information that leads detectives to find Alice.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the incident room on 0208 358 0100 or 101.