Tearful Amanda Knox back in court as appeal against murder conviction resumes

Tearful Amanda Knox back in court as appeal against murder conviction resumes

 

Tearful convicted killer Amanda Knox was back in court today as her appeal resumed - just days after a controversial film about the murder of Meredith Kercher was screened.

Dressed in a blue top Knox, 23, looked thinner than her last appearance two months ago and blinked back tears as she was led into court flanked by prison guards.

Last month she almost fainted with horror in her cell after seeing footage of the film about her and the murder of Meredith, 21, which was also slammed by the victim's family.

Amanda Knox arrives in court today for the fifth hearing of her appeal for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher

Knox is appealing against her conviction for the murder of Meredith, who was found semi naked with her throat cut in her bedroom in the house they shared together with two other Italian women.

The film, screened late last month and made by Lifetime, was called Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy and has also been condemned by her lawyers who feared it could influence her appeal.

Despite protests the film was screened although a brutal scene in which Meredith is fatally knifed was cut by the producers and gruesome trailers were also removed from Lifetime's website.

Dressed in a blue top, Knox, 23, looked thinner than her last appearance two months ago

Knox ignored a question about the film as she was led into court in Perugia and smiled to her stepfather Chris Mellas who was in court along with her best friend Madison Paxton.

She was jointly convicted of murder and sexual assault with her former boyfriend computer studies graduate Raffaele Sollecito, 25, and they were given 26 and 25 years respectively in December 2009.

Raffaele Sollecito attends the appeal hearing of his former girlfriend

Earlier this year appeal court judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman allowed a full review of the contested DNA evidence used to convict them - in particular a 30cm kitchen knife found in the kitchen of Sollecito's flat.

The original trial heard that DNA from Knox was found on the handle and that of Meredith on the blade but defence lawyers have argued that the samples were so small they should not have been used.

Fresh tests are now being carried out on the knife by forensic scientists in Rome, who are also looking at a bloodied bra clasp belonging to Meredith found at the crime scene.

Again the court was told that DNA from Sollecito was found on it but lawyers say it was poorly handled and cross contaminated after being 'lost' for six weeks before being found again.

Today the court will hear from seven witnesses brought by the defence to knock down the testimony of prosecution super witness tramp Antonio Curatolo.

He told the court that he had seen Knox and Sollecito together close to the house on the night Meredith was murdered and remembered it 'clearly' as he saw people queuing for buses to take them to nightclubs.

However defence lawyers have established that no venues were open the night Meredith was murdered as it was a bank holiday and no buses were running as a result because it was the Italian All Saints Bank Holiday.

Meredith Kercher was killed in Perugia in November 2007

Curatolo has been a key witness for prosecutors in two other murders and is now also on trial himself for drug offences and the defence are aiming to discredit him.

Meredith, a Leeds University student from Coulsdon, Surrey, was in Italy as part of a year-long exchange programme with her European Studies degree and had only been in Perugia two months when she was killed in November 2007.

Today the court heard from six witnesses ranging from nightclub PR's and bus company officials who all confirmed that venues were shut and no services running.

Arturo Ciasullo, director of a firm involved in running nightclubs in Perugia, said: 'There were definitely no buses the night of November 1st and the venues were closed as well.'

When asked by Sollecito's defence lawyer Luca Maori if he had been spoken to by the police, he said: 'I told them this and they were in my office for no more than 30 seconds.

'They asked me that one question, I told them what I have just said and they left - they didn't make a note or ask me for a statement,'.

Other witnesses also confirmed that they had told police the same thing.