Raffaele Sollecito, the son of a wealthy doctor from southern Italy, had known Amanda Knox for less than two weeks when Meredith Kercher was found murdered.
Appeal: Raffaele Sollecito stands with Amanda Knox on November 2, 2007, outside the Perugia house where Meredith Kercher was found murdered Photo: Stefano Medici/AP
The bespectacled, dark-haired Sollecito was on the brink of finishing a degree in computer science at Perugia University, where his father had put him up in a smart flat and given him an expensive car.
Friends said he was sexually inexperienced and appeared to be dazzled by the Seattle exchange student, despite her being three years younger than him.
Sollecito's family are from Giovinazzo near the southern city of Bari, on Italy's Adriatic coast, where his father is a successful and well-respected urologist.
His wealth enabled him to hire a team of top defence lawyers, including Giulia Bongiorno, who is also an MP in Silvio Berlusconi's government.
When he gave evidence to the trial in 2009, Dr Francesco Sollecito said his son had never been violent in his life and "wouldn't hurt a fly".
When he gave evidence to the trial in 2009, Dr Francesco Sollecito said his son had never been violent in his life and "wouldn't hurt a fly".
He acknowledged that Raffaele liked carrying and collecting knives – he was carrying one when he was first questioned by police.
He also appeared to have a taste for the macabre – he posted photographs online of himself posing as a cross between a mummy and a mad doctor, with a meat cleaver in one hand and a bottle of bleach in the other; and he was a fan of Japanese manga comics, known for their extreme violence and rape fantasies.
Sollecito always denied having any involvement in the murder – he claimed he was at home in his apartment in Perugia that night, smoking marijuana and downloading a film.
But he was found guilty of murder and sexual assault alongside Knox in Dec 2009 and sentenced to 25 years in jail.
Prosecutors said that the presence of his DNA on a clasp torn from Miss Kercher's bra was proof that he had been involved in the murder, although an independent forensic review this year cast doubt on the reliability of the evidence.
"Nothing connects Raffaele to the crime," his lawyer, Miss Bongiorno, said during her summing up to the court last week.
With so much attention focussed on Knox, Sollecito has been all but forgotten, not only by the international media but by the Italian press too.
He also appeared to have a taste for the macabre – he posted photographs online of himself posing as a cross between a mummy and a mad doctor, with a meat cleaver in one hand and a bottle of bleach in the other; and he was a fan of Japanese manga comics, known for their extreme violence and rape fantasies.
Sollecito always denied having any involvement in the murder – he claimed he was at home in his apartment in Perugia that night, smoking marijuana and downloading a film.
But he was found guilty of murder and sexual assault alongside Knox in Dec 2009 and sentenced to 25 years in jail.
Prosecutors said that the presence of his DNA on a clasp torn from Miss Kercher's bra was proof that he had been involved in the murder, although an independent forensic review this year cast doubt on the reliability of the evidence.
"Nothing connects Raffaele to the crime," his lawyer, Miss Bongiorno, said during her summing up to the court last week.
With so much attention focussed on Knox, Sollecito has been all but forgotten, not only by the international media but by the Italian press too.
