This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/8426201.stm

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Mother insists on Knox innocence Mother insists on Knox innocence
(about 1 hour later)
The mother of Amanda Knox has said she "waits for the day" the family of murdered British student Meredith Kercher know her daughter is innocent.The mother of Amanda Knox has said she "waits for the day" the family of murdered British student Meredith Kercher know her daughter is innocent.
Edda Mellas told the BBC putting a girl in jail for a crime she did not commit would not make them feel better. Edda Mellas told the BBC her daughter had "nothing to do with the crime" in Perugia, Italy, in 2007.
In the first UK interview since Knox, 22, was jailed for 26 years, she said her daughter was "still in disbelief". US student Amanda Knox, 22, and Raffaele Sollecito, her former boyfriend, were found guilty of the murder by an Italian court in December.
Rudy Guede, 22, is due to hear the result of his appeal for the murder of Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy in 2007. Rudy Guede, 22, was also jailed and is due to hear the result of his appeal.
The small-time drug dealer was sentenced to 30 years last October, and appealed against the sentence last month.
Miss Kercher, 21, a Leeds University student from Surrey, was found with her throat slit in November 2007.
'Media went crazy''Media went crazy'
He appealed against his 30-year sentence last month. Knox was sentenced on 4 December with her former Italian boyfriend - who was given 25 years.
Knox was sentenced on 4 December with her former boyfriend - Italian Raffaele Sollecito, 25 - who was given 25 years. Knox and Sollecito had denied killing her, but prosecutors said Sollecito held her down while Knox stabbed her to death in what began as a drug-induced sex game.
Ms Mellas told BBC Radio 5 Live she had had no contact with the Kercher family since the trial. Knox and Sollecito were found guilty of the murder of Meredith Kercher
In the first UK interview since Knox was jailed for 26 years, Ms Mellas told BBC Radio 5 Live her daughter was "still in disbelief".
She said she had had no contact with the Kercher family since the trial.
She said: "I wait for the day that they too know that Amanda had nothing to do with it... putting a girl in jail for a crime she didn't commit is not going to make them feel better."She said: "I wait for the day that they too know that Amanda had nothing to do with it... putting a girl in jail for a crime she didn't commit is not going to make them feel better."
She also partly blamed the media for influencing the result of the trial.She also partly blamed the media for influencing the result of the trial.
She said: "Part of the problem is the media, they went crazy at the beginning of this and made up this person who could have done this crime."She said: "Part of the problem is the media, they went crazy at the beginning of this and made up this person who could have done this crime."
She said her daughter, who is awaiting an appeal, has her "ups and downs" but gets 30 to 40 letters a day - and all but two have been supportive.
But she said the prison where Knox was being held was "noisy" and "cold".
'Huge misconception'
Meredith Kercher was studying in Italy on an exchange programme
Ms Mellas said she had no idea why her daughter was prosecuted.
"The prosecution himself said no motive, there was no physical evidence of Amanda in that room. There's nothing for Amanda, not a hair, footprint, nothing," she said.
The prosecution's reliance on a DNA sample said to belong to Knox that was found on a knife at Sollecito's home should be questioned, she said.
"The biologist kept changing settings, then one human cell on this knife, said it's a match, all her notes said it was too low."
It was a "huge misconception" that her daughter, the "most gentle soul" who "took in stray animals and looked after the elderly", had changed her story, she said.
"She always maintained she was at Raffaele's house, that she watched a movie.
"And there was never a cartwheel at the police station. She started to do some yoga, that turned into cartwheels," she added.
Knox's father, Curt Know, raised questions over DNA evidence in a TV interview recorded after the Italian court's verdict.
He claimed his daughter's "human rights were violated" during 14 hours of questioning.
He was also critical of the reporting of the trial by the Italian and British media, saying his daughter "experienced literally a character assassination".
At the time of the conviction, the family of murdered British student Meredith Kercher said they were "pleased" with the guilty verdicts but there was "no celebration".