Amanda Knox Cries And Addresses Court In Italian To Plead Her Innocence At The Appeals Trial For Her 2009 Murder Conviction Of Roommate Meredith Kercher

While Amanda Knox’s parents were present for the appeal, so was the family of Meredith Kercher. Her sister Stephanie spoke to the media about how difficult it’s been to keep her memory alive.

After Knox and Sollecito had addressed the court judge Hellman also spoke sternly to the packed chamber and said: ‘We will now retire but I to ask you to reflect on something. This is a court room and not a football match there is no room for supporting when the verdict is read.

‘Lets remember that a beautiful girl was murderered and the lives of two other young people are in the balance. So I say again when the sentence is read, respect and silence. Having said that we will now retire and the verdict will not be before 8pm local.’

The final day of the 10-month appeal trial began with Knox’s lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, making his final rebuttal, stressing how the investigation had been carried out in a climate of ‘hostility’ towards his client.

Knox, 24, is serving 26 years for the brutal murder of British student Meredith Kercher, 21.

Knox was jailed in 2009 for Meredith’s murder, while the American’s former boyfriend computer studies graduate Raffaele Sollecito, 27, was given 25 years although both have denied any involvement in the crime.

Their appeal began ten months ago and has heard from several witnesses but the most damning revelations have come from two court appointed independent experts who have poured scorn on the original police forensic investigation of the crime scene.

Key to the original trial were two bits of evidence – a 30cm kitchen knife found in Sollecito’s kitchen on which DNA from Knox was said to be on the handle while that of Meredith’s was on the blade and a bloodied clasp from Meredith’s bra which was said to have genetic material from Sollecito on it.

However the report concluded that the DNA on the knife from Meredith was so low that it should not be used as evidence while the bra clasp evidence was also dismissed after the experts concluded that it was highly possible it had been contaminated as it had not been bagged for six weeks and was handled by forensic officers using dirty gloves and their hands instead of tweezers.

Meredith, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was in Perugia as part of her Leeds University course and had only been in Italy for two months before she was brutally murdered and Knox and Sollecito were jailed in December 2009.

A third defendant, small-time drug dealer Rudy Guede, an immigrant from the Ivory Coast, was also jailed in connection with the brutal killing.

He was handed a 30-year sentence for murder and sexual violence following a fast-track trial in October 2008 which was later cut to 16 years.

After four years in prison, this has been a long time coming for Amanda and Raffaele.

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