Italian court overturns Amanda Knox conviction

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have been acquitted on appeal of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

Both Knox and Sollecito have maintained their innocence over the killing. Picture: AP

The decision by the supreme Court of Cassation is the final ruling in the case, ending the long legal battle waged by the pair.

Both Knox, who was awaiting the verdict in her hometown of Seattle, and Sollecito have long maintained their innocence over the 2007 killing.

Knox was last night said to be “overjoyed” that the “truth had won out”. The supreme court overturned last year’s convictions by a Florence appeals court, and declined to order another trial.

The decision means the judges, after thoroughly examining the case, concluded that a conviction could not be supported by the evidence. Their reasoning will be released within 90 days.

Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old from Coulsdon, Surrey, was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in 2007 in the apartment that she shared with Knox in ­Perugia where both women were studying.

Suspicion quickly fell on Knox and Sollecito. The couple denied involvement and said they had spent the evening at Sollecito’s home. They spent four years in jail for the murder but were first acquitted on appeal in 2011 before the guilty verdicts were reinstated.