London: THE parents of Alice Gross on Wednesday night paid tribute to their `sweet and beautiful’ daughter after getting the news her body had been found in the River Brent.

Jose Gross, 60, and Rosalind Hodgkiss, 50, said they were `completely devastated’.

Police confirmed that `significant efforts’ had been made to hide the corpse on the river bed.

The 14-year-old’s family said: `It is difficult to comprehend that our sweet and beautiful daughter was the victim of a terrible crime. Why anyone would want to hurt her is something we are struggling to come to terms with.

`Alice was a loving and much-loved daughter and sister, a quirky live spark of a girl, beautiful inside and out.

`She was a funny companion, a loyal friend, both passionate and compassionate, and so talented with a bright future ahead of her. She brought so much joy to our family and those who knew her.’

Her parents said they were `comforted’ by the outpouring of support from their community in Hanwell, West London.

They added: `This is a time for grieving and not a time for anger or recriminations.’

Police said a post-mortem examination will continue today due to the `complex nature’ of the investigation. But they face questions over the time it took to find Alice’s body in shallow water just yards from where her rucksack was found.

Last night, detectives were still trying to trace prime suspect Arnis Zalkalns, who was seen on CCTV cycling a short distance behind Alice on the day she vanished.

Her body was found by the confluence of the River Brent and the Grand Union Canal, a five-minute walk from where she was last seen.

Residents said the area had been cordoned off five days later.

A cyclist who uses the towpath said: `I am shocked they have found a body as they have been searching the area for so long, somebody must have tried really hard to hide it.’

Last night it emerged Alice’s body had been concealed in a plastic sack and hidden underneath a pile of logs. Sources revealed the body was buried in a pit dug into the river bed and carefully covered with piles of wood to fool search teams.

A leading criminologist said the concealment suggested preplanning. Professor David Wilson, of Birmingham City University, said police `will be looking at the possibility this was a carefully orchestrated operation by someone who has scoped out the area, rather than a random, opportunistic act’.

It is understood an officer found the body during a fingertip search late on Tuesday afternoon.

Yesterday, dozens of police sealed the area as two forensic tents were erected. A stretcher used to lift the body was left at the waterside.

Police have again appealed for help in tracing Zalkalns, last seen a week after Alice disappeared. His former landlord Radoslav Andric, 64, said: `Now they have a body, maybe they can do some more tests and prove what happened.’

Last night, a shed where Zalkalns kept painting tools was under guard as police waited for forensic teams, sparking speculation that its contents were linked to Alice’s death. The shed is on a gated estate, Heron’s Court, 15 minutes by bike from where her body was found. Zalkalns, 41, a convicted killer in his native Latvia, had done odd jobs on the estate for years.

Volunteers have been taking down hundreds of posters featuring Alice across Hanwell. Many streets remain festooned in yellow ribbons, symbols of a community in shock.

Alice’s sister Nina, 19, who is due to study at Cambridge next year, posted a poignant photograph of poppies, which appears alongside her last public online comment: `I love and miss my sister dearly . . . I love you Alice always.’

Resident Sharon McLeod said she dreaded telling her son, a friend of Alice’s, the news. She said: `It’s absolutely gut-wrenching. No one can ever fault the police, they’ve done an amazing job.’

Joanne Golden, who went to gym classes with Alice, said the inquiry has been like a `thick black cloud hanging over Hanwell’. She said: `I have been having nightmares and all I can think of is poor Alice and her family.’

Ealing North MP Stephen Pound branded the killer a `cold, cunning and calculating predator’. He said: `The body has been concealed . . . that’s not the action of somebody acting in hot blood.’

Commander Graham McNulty, of the Met, said recovering evidence `may take some time’. He said: `I would urge anyone who may know something to come forward. Even if you have not yet spoken out it is not too late to tell us what you know.’