Amanda Knox claims inmate tried to seduce her behind bars

Amanda Knox criticises court's 'illogical' reasoning

30 April

AMANDA KNOX has reiterated her claim that she is innocent of the murder of British university student Meredith Kercher, criticising the reasoning of an Italian appeals court that yesterday released a document explaining why it had reinstated her guilty verdict.

"In the scathing report that spells out the evidence, logic and reasoning that led to his guilty verdict in Florence on 30 January, Judge [Alessandro] Nencini also says Knox and her defence tried to tamper with evidence and pervert the truth by introducing prisoners as witnesses," Andrea Vogt writes on TheWeek.co.uk

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But in a statement, reproduced in full on The Guardian website, Knox claims she is "innocent of the accusation against me", and says that the document released by the court "does not – and cannot – change the fact of my innocence".

Knox says that "experts agree" that none of her DNA was found anywhere in Meredith's room, while "the DNA of the actual murderer, Rudy Guede, was found throughout that room and on Meredith's body".

She argues that forensic evidence also directly refutes the court's claim that a kitchen knife was the murder weapon and states that court-appointed independent investigators confirmed that neither Meredith's blood nor her DNA was on the alleged murder weapon.

Different courts that have dealt with the case over the years have offered different explanations for Knox's motive for killing Kercher. Nencini's report says Kercher was slashed on the neck after an "altercation over money, men and hygeine" escalated.

Knox countered the latest court theory saying "like the prior 'motives', the latest 'motive' in the new... document is not supported by any credible evidence or logic".

The 26-year-old and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty of murder in 2009, but an appeals court quashed the verdict in 2011 allowing Knox to return to her home in the United States.

Judges at the retrial in January subsequently reinstated the original conviction, and sentenced Knox to 28 years and six months in prison. Sollecito was given a prison term of 25 years. Both maintain that they are innocent of the crime.

Amanda Knox ex Sollecito admits her behaviour was odd

26 February

RAFFAELE SOLLECITO, the ex-boyfriend of Amanda Knox, has admitted that Knox's behaviour on the night of Meredith Kercher's death was "peculiar".

Italy's Supreme Court will hear an appeal from Sollecito next year, as one of the most perplexing legal cases in modern Italian history rolls on.

In an interview with CNN, Sollecito again insisted he was innocent, but tempered his previously unwavering support for Knox.

"There is nothing against me and nothing very strong against Amanda," Sollecito told CNN. "And in my case, I really did nothing wrong, and I don't want to pay for someone else's peculiar behaviour."

On the night of Kercher's death in November 2007, Knox spent the night with Sollecito, but returned to the home she shared with Kercher in the morning to shower, he says. When she came back, she was "very agitated".

Knox told him that someone had broken in and that there was blood in the bathroom, Sollecito says. But instead of phoning the police she took a shower before returning.

"Certainly I asked her questions," he said. "Why did you take a shower? Why did she spend so much time there," Sollecito said in the interview.

The Italian claims that he has been a scapegoat for Kercher's murder, and that he should never have faced trial in the first place. Knox supports this view, writing on her Facebook page: "The only reason he has been dragged into this is because he happens to be my alibi."

The view is consistent with Sollecito's lawyer John Kelly's new efforts to create distance between the cases of Knox and Sollecito:

"It's imperative that the Italian courts consider Raffaele's case separate from Amanda's case," Kelly said. "By necessity, he has to distance himself and his case from Amanda and her case".

More about Amanda Knox:

Amanda Knox case: Rudy Guede eligible for paroleAmanda Knox: Kate Beckinsale film teaser revealed – video Amanda Knox: 'I'll never return to Italy voluntarily' Amanda Knox guilty of Kercher murder: will she be extradited? Amanda Knox 'running away' from verdict, says bar owner