Murdered girl's family seek £22.7m in damages from accused

Published on Friday 27 November 2009 21:39

THE family of murdered British student Meredith Kercher are seeking £22.7 million in damages from her American roommate and two other defendants accused of the 2007 killing.

Lawyer Francesco Maresca said in court yesterday that the family of 21-year-old Meredith are seeking compensation from Amanda Knox, of Seattle, and Italian Raffaele Sollecito, who are on trial in Perugia, and Ivorian Rudy Hermann Guede, who was convicted in a separate trial. They all deny wrongdoing.

Prosecutors have asked the eight-member jury to give Knox and Sollecito a life sentence. A verdict is expected next week.

The body of Miss Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia on 2 November, 2007. Prosecutors believe she was the victim of a drug-fuelled sex game.

Carlo Pacelli, representing Patrick Lumumba, the Congolese barman whom Knox falsely accused of taking part in the crime, told the court yesterday that Knox was "a talented and calculated liar who deliberately went out of her way to frame Patrick". She was "beautiful and intelligent" but also "cunning, shrewd and unscrupulous", Mr Pacelli said.

Last week, the prosecution summed up its case against Knox and Sollecito, saying they had tried to cover up their guilt by breaking a window to give police the impression that Ms Kercher had been murdered by a thief.

Third suspect Guede was last year given a 30-year sentence for his part in the crime under fast track procedures, and recently lost his appeal.

Lawyers defending Knox and Sollecito say the investigation was mishandled. They have contested DNA evidence against the pair saying it is flawed, including the presumed murder weapon, a kitchen knife found at Sollecito's flat which had been cleaned with bleach but which allegedly has Knox's DNA near the handle and Ms Kercher's DNA at the tip.