Amanda Knox case: DNA evidence to be reviewed following appealItalian judge orders re-examination of forensic tests that led to conviction for murder of Meredith Kercher
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Share30 Tom Kington, Perugia guardian.co.uk, Saturday 18 December 2010 18.59 GMT Article history
Convicted US student Amanda Knox is escorted by guards as she arrives for her appeal hearing at Perugia's courthouse. Photograph: Alessandra Tarantino/AP
Amanda Knox's appeal against her 26-year sentence for the murder of Meredith Kercher received a massive boost on Saturday when a judge granted her request for a comprehensive review of key DNA evidence that was used to convict her and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.
After two appeal hearings in Perugia, judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman said he was convinced that the complexity of the case merited a review of forensic tests in the name of "reasonable doubt". Knox, 23, and Sollecito, 25, were convicted of killing Kercher, a British exchange student, in Perugia, in November 2007.
Hearing the news, Knox began to take deep breaths, her mother and stepfather both began to cry and Sollecito beamed broadly at his family.
"Amanda is stunned," said her mother, Edda Mellas, after conferring with her daughter. "She is in shock but happy – this brings hope."
Knox's college friend Madison Paxton, who has moved to Perugia to be near to Knox, said that she was "full of adrenaline" after Hellman said he was appointing experts to re-analyse a knife and a bra clasp considered crucial to the convictions. "This is an indication that they will look at this with fresh eyes," said Paxton.
The two defence teams had asked for experts to complete an independent review of the analysis of the knife, found in Sollecito's kitchen drawer and considered a murder weapon. It contained tiny DNA traces of both Knox and Kercher, according to police, but insufficient quantities to be reliable, said the defence.
"If it is not possible to check the identity of the DNA, we will check on the reliability of the original tests," said Hellman in his ruling, which came after the judge and jury retired to deliberate for an hour and 20 minutes.
Also disputed is the discovery of Sollecito's DNA on Kercher's torn bra clasp, found in her room 49 days after her death, during which time it had been moved accidentally by investigators.
Hellman agreed to review the bra clasp evidence after defence lawyers claimed it had been contaminated during the crime scene investigation. "It would have been very strange for a guilty party to insist so much on these tests," said Francesco Sollecito, the accused's father.
Hellman said that he would appoint two independent experts from the University of Rome to oversee the tests and would set a timetable on 15 January. A specialist in civil law, Hellman is running the Knox appeal almost by accident since fellow judges who might have been appointed were either transferred or had retired.
Chris Mellas, Knox's stepfather, said that Hellman's lack of experience may be an advantage for her. "Because it is not his typical arena, he might be a little less desensitised. The court's summary of the case, which was read out last week, contained many of our points, and that was already something."
Hellman also accepted the defence request to hear from Antonio Curatolo, a homeless man from the area who they say gave mistaken testimony. Curatolo says he saw Knox and Sollecito loitering near the house Knox shared with Kercher on the night of the murder, but the defence lawyers now claim that he had confused the dates.
At the start of the appeal hearing, Knox entered the court looking pale, watery eyed and hunched, while Sollecito, wearing winter boots and his short hair unkempt, smiled in a dazed fashion. After the trial started late, as a result of snowbound roads around Perugia, prosecutor Giancarlo Costagliola said that a review would be "useless" and that "this court has all the elements to be able to come to a decision".
Manuela Comodi, the prosecutor who built the case against Knox with fellow magistrate Giuliano Mignini, returned to the court to try, in vain, to demolish the defence's case for a review.
Knox's prospects were clouded by the court's decision to incorporate into the appeal all documents, evidence and findings from the murder trial of Rudy Guede, who chose a fast-track trial and was definitively sentenced to 16 years on Thursday for his part in the murder following the two appeals he was allowed under Italian law.
By upholding Guede's sentence, the appeal court also gave credence to the arguments made for his guilt at his first appeal, which clearly placed Knox and Sollecito at the scene of the crime with Guede. Mignani, the magistrate who secured the conviction of Knox, warned that the Guede conviction could doom Knox's appeal.
"Guede's sentence states that Knox and Sollecito were involved and it is very rare that one sentence would contradict a definitive sentence."
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Italian Court OK's DNA appeal
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7345536.html
PERUGIA, Italy — Amanda Knox won an important victory in her appeals trial of her murder conviction in Italy on Saturday, when a court ruled that it will allow an independent review of crucial DNA evidence after defense claims that samples were inconclusive and possibly contaminated.
The lower court trial, which convicted the American student a year ago and sentenced her to 26 years in Italian prison, had rejected a similar defense request for an outside review of DNA found on the bra clasp of the victim, her British roommate Meredith Kercher, and on a knife the prosecution alleged was used in the fatal stabbing attack.
Kercher's body was found in a pool of blood on Nov. 2, 2007, her throat slit in the apartment she shared with Knox. Forensic experts said she was killed the night before.
Knox burst into tears, in a sign of a release of tension, said her stepfather Chris Mellas. "She's a happy mess," he said, smiling.
She was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher in the rented house they shared in the university town of Perugia, where both were studying. The co-defendant in the appeals trial is her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian who was convicted of the same charges and sentenced to 25 years. Both deny any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors maintain that Sollecito's DNA was found on the bra clasp and that Knox's DNA was found on the knife's handle and Kercher's DNA on the blade. The defense maintains that DNA traces presented at the first trial were inconclusive and also contends they might have been contaminated when they were analyzed.
The court handed the defense another victory. It will allow several witnesses the defense hopes will refute testimony that placed Knox and Sollecito near the house on the night Kercher was killed.
Knox's mother, Edda Mellas, burst into tears of joy in the courtroom when the appeals court announced its decision. "Finally a little bit of good news," Mellas said, as Knox's family members hugged defense team lawyers.
Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman said after 90 minutes of deliberations that the DNA evidence review was needed "to remove any reasonable doubt."
He said two independent experts, from Rome's Sapienza university, would either make new analyses of the DNA traces found, or if that isn't possible, would review the analyses that had been carried out by previous forensic experts and assess whether they are reliable.
DNA evidence was crucial in the first trial, where a clear motive did not emerge for the brutal killing.
"Finally, the trial can begin," said Luca Maori, an attorney for Sollecito. "After three years, we have scored our first important victory."
A Knox defense attorney, Luciano Ghirga, called the ruling Saturday "a significant step" and "a victory not for one side, but for the truth."
The experts will be formally assigned the task of the review at the trial's next session, on Jan. 15.
The court said it might decide at a later stage to allow other witnesses sought by the defense.
The court rejected several of the defense requests, including for new tests on Sollecito's computer related to the young man's alibi for the night of the slaying.
Francesco Maresca, a lawyer for the Kercher family who had opposed the review, said that "if the court has any remaining doubts, it does well to try to remove them."
"And now we'll see what these experts will conclude," he told reporters at the end of the hearing.
The review will take at least 30 days, and with new witnesses being heard, the trial is expected to go until next spring.
In seeking the new witnesses, the defense is seeking to refute testimony in the first trial from Antonio Curatolo, a homeless man who said he had seen Knox and Sollecito chatting on a basketball court near the apartment house the night Kercher was killed.
The defense insists his testimony was unreliable and hopes the new witnesses, who operate buses and discos in the area, will prove him wrong.
Prosecutors also appealed the lower court's verdict in hopes of winning stiffer sentences.
Saturday's hearing was held two days after Italy's highest criminal court upheld the conviction and 16-year-prison sentence of the third person charged with the murder, Rudy Hermann Guede of the Ivory Coast.
Guede has admitted being at the house the night of the murder but denies killing Kercher.
He was tried separately. The high court's ruling, which cannot be appealed, is significant because it states that Guede took part in the slaying but did not act alone, prosecutors and lawyers said.
The lower court trial, which convicted the American student a year ago and sentenced her to 26 years in Italian prison, had rejected a similar defense request for an outside review of DNA found on the bra clasp of the victim, her British roommate Meredith Kercher, and on a knife the prosecution alleged was used in the fatal stabbing attack.
Kercher's body was found in a pool of blood on Nov. 2, 2007, her throat slit in the apartment she shared with Knox. Forensic experts said she was killed the night before.
Knox burst into tears, in a sign of a release of tension, said her stepfather Chris Mellas. "She's a happy mess," he said, smiling.
She was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher in the rented house they shared in the university town of Perugia, where both were studying. The co-defendant in the appeals trial is her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian who was convicted of the same charges and sentenced to 25 years. Both deny any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors maintain that Sollecito's DNA was found on the bra clasp and that Knox's DNA was found on the knife's handle and Kercher's DNA on the blade. The defense maintains that DNA traces presented at the first trial were inconclusive and also contends they might have been contaminated when they were analyzed.
The court handed the defense another victory. It will allow several witnesses the defense hopes will refute testimony that placed Knox and Sollecito near the house on the night Kercher was killed.
Knox's mother, Edda Mellas, burst into tears of joy in the courtroom when the appeals court announced its decision. "Finally a little bit of good news," Mellas said, as Knox's family members hugged defense team lawyers.
Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman said after 90 minutes of deliberations that the DNA evidence review was needed "to remove any reasonable doubt."
He said two independent experts, from Rome's Sapienza university, would either make new analyses of the DNA traces found, or if that isn't possible, would review the analyses that had been carried out by previous forensic experts and assess whether they are reliable.
DNA evidence was crucial in the first trial, where a clear motive did not emerge for the brutal killing.
"Finally, the trial can begin," said Luca Maori, an attorney for Sollecito. "After three years, we have scored our first important victory."
A Knox defense attorney, Luciano Ghirga, called the ruling Saturday "a significant step" and "a victory not for one side, but for the truth."
The experts will be formally assigned the task of the review at the trial's next session, on Jan. 15.
The court said it might decide at a later stage to allow other witnesses sought by the defense.
The court rejected several of the defense requests, including for new tests on Sollecito's computer related to the young man's alibi for the night of the slaying.
Francesco Maresca, a lawyer for the Kercher family who had opposed the review, said that "if the court has any remaining doubts, it does well to try to remove them."
"And now we'll see what these experts will conclude," he told reporters at the end of the hearing.
The review will take at least 30 days, and with new witnesses being heard, the trial is expected to go until next spring.
In seeking the new witnesses, the defense is seeking to refute testimony in the first trial from Antonio Curatolo, a homeless man who said he had seen Knox and Sollecito chatting on a basketball court near the apartment house the night Kercher was killed.
The defense insists his testimony was unreliable and hopes the new witnesses, who operate buses and discos in the area, will prove him wrong.
Prosecutors also appealed the lower court's verdict in hopes of winning stiffer sentences.
Saturday's hearing was held two days after Italy's highest criminal court upheld the conviction and 16-year-prison sentence of the third person charged with the murder, Rudy Hermann Guede of the Ivory Coast.
Guede has admitted being at the house the night of the murder but denies killing Kercher.
He was tried separately. The high court's ruling, which cannot be appealed, is significant because it states that Guede took part in the slaying but did not act alone, prosecutors and lawyers said.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Unknown Cambridge graduate is picked to play Meredith Kercher in controversial film about her murder
By Nick PisaLast updated at 3:01 PM on 5th December 2010
An unknown Cambridge University graduate is playing the part of murdered student Meredith Kercher in a TV film because of her uncanny similarity to the victim.
Amanda Fernando Stevens, 26, was picked for the role by director Robert Dornhelm when he saw her at a casting and spotted the resemblance with tragic Meredith, 21, who was found semi naked and with her throat slashed.
Miss Stevens turned to acting after a brief stint teaching following her graduation from university with a natural sciences degree and the Amanda Knox Story will be her first major role.
Likeness: Amanda Fernando Stevens and murder victim Meredith Kercher
The film has angered both the Knox and Kercher families and defence lawyers have also hit out at the production which is being made by American firm Lifetime and which will be broadcast in the U.S. in March.
Filming in Italy was actually hit with budget issues and also permission to film in Perugia - where the murder took place in November 2007 - was refused by the city council.
Portrayal: Killer Amanda Knox, left, will be played by Hollywood actress Hayden Panettiere
Dornhelm said:'Meredith's story is tragic for all those involved, for the youngsters but also for their parents.
'What counts above all is that two mothers have lost their daughters, one in death and the other in jail.'
''What interests me more is the psychology and personality of the protagonists rather than the blood of the crime and the search for those responsible.
''The world is not black and white. anyone can find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.
'It's not surprising that in this day and age someone's dark side can emerge and they are capable of doing something terrible.'
Meredith's killers: Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito
Last December this was reduced to 16 years on appeal and in ten days time he will have his third and final appeal at the Supreme Court in Rome.
Knox and Sollecito are basing their appeal on flawed DNA techniques presented in court during their original trial.
British actor Colin Firth is also making a film on the murder which is being directed by the acclaimed Michael Winterbottom.
Meanwhile, Knox has expressed her fears of remaining in jail for the rest of her life in letters to Italian MP Rocco Girlanda who has written a book on their correspondence
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1335843/Amanda-Knox-film-Unknown-Cambridge-graduate-play-Meredith-Kercher.html#ixzz17Gq7SlXK
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Repulsion for America allowing a killer to become a celebrity 'Foxy Knoxy'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1334777/From-Meredith-Kerchers-father-passionate-attack-cult-Foxy-Knoxy.html
Last updated at 8:20 AM on 2nd December 2010
Amanda Knox was found guilty of killing my daughter Meredith at the house they shared in Italy three years ago. Yet since that act of horrific violence, Knox, it seems, has been accorded the status of a minor celebrity.
Sometimes it seems that there is no escape from her or her jaunty nickname, ‘Foxy Knoxy’ (doubly hurtful, for the way it trivialises the awfulness of her offence).
Last week, Knox’s parents were given star billing on the ITV breakfast show Daybreak, where they had free rein to profess their conviction that their daughter is not guilty.
Kurt Knox and his ex-wife Edda Mellas have never expressed their condolences to our family for our grievous loss. There has been no letter of sympathy; no word of regret. Instead, I have watched them repeatedly reiterate the mantra of their daughter’s innocence.
Alas, I fear there is more yet to come. Their TV appearance last week, trailed for two days as if it were some exclusive media coup, coincided with the resumption of Knox’s appeal against her conviction.
This appeal, like the initial court case, will drag on for months, while the dark tunnel between my family and our ability to grieve for Meredith in peace becomes ever longer.
If Knox doesn’t get the result she wants, our agony will be even more protracted: she may then take her case to Italy’s Supreme Court in Rome. Put simply, our ordeal could go on for years.
Knox is one of three people convicted of killing my beautiful and talented daughter. It was a brutal murder. Meredith’s throat was slit, and she was stabbed to death.
Knox and her former boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, are serving jail sentences of 26 and 25 years respectively for their heinous crime. A third person, drifter Rudy Guede, convicted with them, is also in prison.
Yet it is Knox who still exerts such a hold over the media. As a journalist myself, I know the reason why. Knox is young, attractive and female. To many, she seems an unlikely killer.
Yet to my family she is, unequivocally, culpable. As far as we are concerned, she has been convicted of taking our precious Meredith’s life in the most hideous and bloody way.
And the sadness is, the nature of that death too often prevents us from celebrating her life. She has become ‘Meredith Kercher, murder victim’, not Meredith Kercher, our lovely, intellectually curious daughter.
So, today, I’d like to redress the balance and tell you about our irredeemable loss. About the Merdeith we knew and loved.
Our girl was 21 when she died; a bright, sweet-natured and engaging young woman. She had been studying for a degree in European Studies and Italian at Leeds University when she had opted to spend some time in the medieval Italian town of Perugia, at the university there, improving her knowledge of the Italian language and culture.
On November 1, the third anniversary of her death, I gathered with the rest of the family in the cold, grey cemetery where she is buried. One by one, we laid bright flowers on her grave and left messages. Mine said simply, ‘I miss you’.
Along with our own handwritten notes, there were dozens from Meredith’s friends.
They write as if she’s still with us, telling her about their new jobs, their boyfriends.
They remind her of all the wonderful times they had, of the shared laughter. And like us, they hope — really, they do — that Meredith might somehow know what they have written.
None of us, you see, wants to forget her for even one second. So she is here, among us, everywhere. She lives on in the public memorials, with trees planted in her honour at her old school and university, and in the private ones, too.
At her home in Surrey, where she lived with her mum during the university holidays, her room remains as it always was. It is not a shrine; but neither will it ever be disturbed.
Her clothes remain in the wardrobe, her posters on the wall. Study books are piled on the table, make-up arranged beside them. It is just as she left it — and sometimes I even convince myself that one day she will return to it.
I wait to hear the cheerful cadence of her laughter. Even now, the memory of it has the power to make me smile.
People also always remember Meredith’s kindness and caring nature. She never gave the impression of being studious, but she was. She worked quietly and assiduously for her degree. But she was generous too. Several friends commented that she would lend out her lecture notes to anyone who asked: to her, it was second nature.
But Meredith, of course, was not perfect. Punctuality was never one of her qualities.
The last time I saw her, during a weekend trip back to London, she breezed into the Italian restaurant where I was waiting for her a full hour late. Yet when I saw her, wreathed in that famous smile, my annoyance instantly evaporated.
The vision of her delightedly showing me the new boots she’d bought that day is one I continue to hold dear.
The next thing we knew, we were travelling to Italy to identify her body.
And then there was the ordeal of the court case, the details of which have been picked over too often to bear repeating here.
But still, the hurt wasn’t over. I’ll share one small example.
Two years after her death, we were told that we could finally take Meredith’s possessions home with us. I expected a large suitcase full of her belongings, which we could all cherish.
Instead, I was given a small, battered case. Her beloved clothes had all been taken for forensic tests. Not even her treasured possessions were sacrosanct.
So we concentrate on the happy memories instead. Meredith was a Christmas baby, and as the festive season approaches, we hold in our hearts the memory of her 21st birthday, celebrated in a local Italian restaurant. None of us could have dreamed it would be her last.
Meredith meant so much to us all. Our lives have, of course, moved on, but not a minute passes when she is not in our thoughts. And the question that nags insistently at us is: ‘Why?’ Why was she taken from us prematurely and with such horrific brutality?
Like all grieving parents, we sometimes wonder what she would be doing now if she were still with us. She would have graduated with her degree from Leeds University in 2009. But, of course, we were never able to share her pride in reaching that milestone.
She was, however, awarded a posthumous degree, and her sister, Stephanie, collected it for her. Every student in the vast hall rose to their feet to applaud her that day. The standing ovation lasted a full minute, and my eyes brimmed with tears.
Sometimes, even now, I find it hard to believe she is not still with us. Her passing is easier to bear if I pretend she has just gone away for a while; that some day soon she will ring me — her voice bubbling with laughter and enthusiasm — to tell me about her latest adventure.
Meredith was the baby of the family, the beloved youngest child. Her mum, her siblings and I cherish every memory of her short life. It is her untimely and horrific death we would all prefer to obliterate from our minds.
All we want now is the peace to be able to celebrate her life. Is that so much to ask?
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1334777/From-Meredith-Kerchers-father-passionate-attack-cult-Foxy-Knoxy.html#ixzz16zElnwR1
It's utterly despicable that the girl jailed for killing my daughter has become a celebrity
By John KercherLast updated at 8:20 AM on 2nd December 2010
From Meredith Kercher’s father, a passionate attack on the cult of 'Foxy Knoxy'
Last week, I switched on my television to see the parents of the young woman convicted of taking my daughter’s life proclaiming her innocence. And, once again, I felt the pain and the anger and the raw grief resurface.Amanda Knox was found guilty of killing my daughter Meredith at the house they shared in Italy three years ago. Yet since that act of horrific violence, Knox, it seems, has been accorded the status of a minor celebrity.
Sometimes it seems that there is no escape from her or her jaunty nickname, ‘Foxy Knoxy’ (doubly hurtful, for the way it trivialises the awfulness of her offence).
Cherished memories: John Kercher misses daughter Meredith every day
Kurt Knox and his ex-wife Edda Mellas have never expressed their condolences to our family for our grievous loss. There has been no letter of sympathy; no word of regret. Instead, I have watched them repeatedly reiterate the mantra of their daughter’s innocence.
Alas, I fear there is more yet to come. Their TV appearance last week, trailed for two days as if it were some exclusive media coup, coincided with the resumption of Knox’s appeal against her conviction.
This appeal, like the initial court case, will drag on for months, while the dark tunnel between my family and our ability to grieve for Meredith in peace becomes ever longer.
If Knox doesn’t get the result she wants, our agony will be even more protracted: she may then take her case to Italy’s Supreme Court in Rome. Put simply, our ordeal could go on for years.
'To many, Knox seems an unlikely killer. Yet to my family she is, unequivocally, culpable'
Knox and her former boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, are serving jail sentences of 26 and 25 years respectively for their heinous crime. A third person, drifter Rudy Guede, convicted with them, is also in prison.
Yet it is Knox who still exerts such a hold over the media. As a journalist myself, I know the reason why. Knox is young, attractive and female. To many, she seems an unlikely killer.
Yet to my family she is, unequivocally, culpable. As far as we are concerned, she has been convicted of taking our precious Meredith’s life in the most hideous and bloody way.
And the sadness is, the nature of that death too often prevents us from celebrating her life. She has become ‘Meredith Kercher, murder victim’, not Meredith Kercher, our lovely, intellectually curious daughter.
So, today, I’d like to redress the balance and tell you about our irredeemable loss. About the Merdeith we knew and loved.
Minor celebrity status: Amanda Knox at her appeal hearing in Italy last week
On November 1, the third anniversary of her death, I gathered with the rest of the family in the cold, grey cemetery where she is buried. One by one, we laid bright flowers on her grave and left messages. Mine said simply, ‘I miss you’.
Along with our own handwritten notes, there were dozens from Meredith’s friends.
They write as if she’s still with us, telling her about their new jobs, their boyfriends.
They remind her of all the wonderful times they had, of the shared laughter. And like us, they hope — really, they do — that Meredith might somehow know what they have written.
None of us, you see, wants to forget her for even one second. So she is here, among us, everywhere. She lives on in the public memorials, with trees planted in her honour at her old school and university, and in the private ones, too.
At her home in Surrey, where she lived with her mum during the university holidays, her room remains as it always was. It is not a shrine; but neither will it ever be disturbed.
'All we want now is the peace to be able to celebrate her life. Is that so much to ask?'
I wait to hear the cheerful cadence of her laughter. Even now, the memory of it has the power to make me smile.
People also always remember Meredith’s kindness and caring nature. She never gave the impression of being studious, but she was. She worked quietly and assiduously for her degree. But she was generous too. Several friends commented that she would lend out her lecture notes to anyone who asked: to her, it was second nature.
But Meredith, of course, was not perfect. Punctuality was never one of her qualities.
The last time I saw her, during a weekend trip back to London, she breezed into the Italian restaurant where I was waiting for her a full hour late. Yet when I saw her, wreathed in that famous smile, my annoyance instantly evaporated.
The vision of her delightedly showing me the new boots she’d bought that day is one I continue to hold dear.
The next thing we knew, we were travelling to Italy to identify her body.
And then there was the ordeal of the court case, the details of which have been picked over too often to bear repeating here.
Glamorised: Actress Hayden Panettiere is playing Knox in a new film about the events of Meredith's death
Two years after her death, we were told that we could finally take Meredith’s possessions home with us. I expected a large suitcase full of her belongings, which we could all cherish.
Instead, I was given a small, battered case. Her beloved clothes had all been taken for forensic tests. Not even her treasured possessions were sacrosanct.
So we concentrate on the happy memories instead. Meredith was a Christmas baby, and as the festive season approaches, we hold in our hearts the memory of her 21st birthday, celebrated in a local Italian restaurant. None of us could have dreamed it would be her last.
Meredith meant so much to us all. Our lives have, of course, moved on, but not a minute passes when she is not in our thoughts. And the question that nags insistently at us is: ‘Why?’ Why was she taken from us prematurely and with such horrific brutality?
Like all grieving parents, we sometimes wonder what she would be doing now if she were still with us. She would have graduated with her degree from Leeds University in 2009. But, of course, we were never able to share her pride in reaching that milestone.
She was, however, awarded a posthumous degree, and her sister, Stephanie, collected it for her. Every student in the vast hall rose to their feet to applaud her that day. The standing ovation lasted a full minute, and my eyes brimmed with tears.
Sometimes, even now, I find it hard to believe she is not still with us. Her passing is easier to bear if I pretend she has just gone away for a while; that some day soon she will ring me — her voice bubbling with laughter and enthusiasm — to tell me about her latest adventure.
Meredith was the baby of the family, the beloved youngest child. Her mum, her siblings and I cherish every memory of her short life. It is her untimely and horrific death we would all prefer to obliterate from our minds.
All we want now is the peace to be able to celebrate her life. Is that so much to ask?
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1334777/From-Meredith-Kerchers-father-passionate-attack-cult-Foxy-Knoxy.html#ixzz16zElnwR1
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