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| Amanda Knox reiterates innocence as memoir is published | Amanda Knox reiterates innocence as memoir is published |
| (10 days later) | |
| Amanda Knox has reiterated her innocence and revealed she contemplated suicide while jailed in Italy for the murder of Meredith Kercher, ahead of the imminent publication of her memoir for which she was reportedly paid $4m (£2.6m). | Amanda Knox has reiterated her innocence and revealed she contemplated suicide while jailed in Italy for the murder of Meredith Kercher, ahead of the imminent publication of her memoir for which she was reportedly paid $4m (£2.6m). |
| Knox, 25, has spoken in detail for the first time since her release, to promote Waiting to Be Heard, which her publisher, HarperCollins, hopes will reignite interest in the case and justify the advance when it is published on Tuesday. | Knox, 25, has spoken in detail for the first time since her release, to promote Waiting to Be Heard, which her publisher, HarperCollins, hopes will reignite interest in the case and justify the advance when it is published on Tuesday. |
| "Until now I have personally never contributed to any public discussion of the case or of what happened to me," Knox concludes. "Now that I am free, I've finally found myself in a position to respond to everyone's questions. This memoir is about setting the record straight." | "Until now I have personally never contributed to any public discussion of the case or of what happened to me," Knox concludes. "Now that I am free, I've finally found myself in a position to respond to everyone's questions. This memoir is about setting the record straight." |
| Knox said she and her then boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, smoked pot and watched the film Amélie at his apartment on the night her roommate was killed in Perugia, central Italy, in November 2007. Kercher, 21, an exchange student from Surrey, was found partially undressed and with her throat slit. | Knox said she and her then boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, smoked pot and watched the film Amélie at his apartment on the night her roommate was killed in Perugia, central Italy, in November 2007. Kercher, 21, an exchange student from Surrey, was found partially undressed and with her throat slit. |
| Rudy Guede, a drifter who knew both women, was convicted of murder in 2008 and jailed for 16 years. Italian authorities also charged Knox, an exchange student from Seattle, and Sollecito of participating in the killing in a sex-game gone wrong. They were convicted in 2009 amid lurid headlines calling Knox a she-devil – but an appeal court acquitted them two years later after defence lawyers exposed flaws in the investigation. | Rudy Guede, a drifter who knew both women, was convicted of murder in 2008 and jailed for 16 years. Italian authorities also charged Knox, an exchange student from Seattle, and Sollecito of participating in the killing in a sex-game gone wrong. They were convicted in 2009 amid lurid headlines calling Knox a she-devil – but an appeal court acquitted them two years later after defence lawyers exposed flaws in the investigation. |
| Back in Seattle, Knox has started a mass media campaign to promote the memoir's depiction of an innocent abroad snared in the incompetent, vindictive wheels of Italy's judicial system. She gave an interview to celebrity magazine People last week and will be interviewed by ABC's news anchor Diane Sawyer on the day the book is published. | Back in Seattle, Knox has started a mass media campaign to promote the memoir's depiction of an innocent abroad snared in the incompetent, vindictive wheels of Italy's judicial system. She gave an interview to celebrity magazine People last week and will be interviewed by ABC's news anchor Diane Sawyer on the day the book is published. |
| Knox told People her four-year incarceration was a nightmare of sexual harassment and loneliness that led her to consider ending her life. "It would be cutting my wrists, turning on the shower so it would fog up the spy window and the guards wouldn't see me, and then drifting away and bleeding out." But she credited a prison chaplain, Don Saulo, with helping to save her life with chats about religion and politics and letting her play his guitar. | Knox told People her four-year incarceration was a nightmare of sexual harassment and loneliness that led her to consider ending her life. "It would be cutting my wrists, turning on the shower so it would fog up the spy window and the guards wouldn't see me, and then drifting away and bleeding out." But she credited a prison chaplain, Don Saulo, with helping to save her life with chats about religion and politics and letting her play his guitar. |
| For the first time, Knox reached out to Kercher's parents, saying she hoped they would listen to what she had to say. "I've never approached them, for legal reasons and because I worry about imposing on them in their grief. | For the first time, Knox reached out to Kercher's parents, saying she hoped they would listen to what she had to say. "I've never approached them, for legal reasons and because I worry about imposing on them in their grief. |
| "But my understanding is that her father thinks I'm the killer of his daughter, and that's painful. I really hope they will read my book." | "But my understanding is that her father thinks I'm the killer of his daughter, and that's painful. I really hope they will read my book." |
| She denied making handstands at the police station immediately after Kercher's body was found – although this was widely reported – but admitted other behaviour, such as repeatedly kissing Sollecito outside the crime scene, fuelled suspicion, though in reality it signalled being young, scared and in need of comfort. "When Meredith was murdered and I was arrested, it was so shocking. It was paralysing. Everything toppled," she said. | She denied making handstands at the police station immediately after Kercher's body was found – although this was widely reported – but admitted other behaviour, such as repeatedly kissing Sollecito outside the crime scene, fuelled suspicion, though in reality it signalled being young, scared and in need of comfort. "When Meredith was murdered and I was arrested, it was so shocking. It was paralysing. Everything toppled," she said. |
| HarperCollins – part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation – beat six rival publishers in an auction last year for Knox's story, paying a reported $4m advance in a gamble that public interest would endure and make the book a bestseller. | HarperCollins – part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation – beat six rival publishers in an auction last year for Knox's story, paying a reported $4m advance in a gamble that public interest would endure and make the book a bestseller. |
| In March, Italy's highest appeal court overturned the acquittals of Knox and Sollecito, paving the way for a potential extradition battle between Italy and the US. | In March, Italy's highest appeal court overturned the acquittals of Knox and Sollecito, paving the way for a potential extradition battle between Italy and the US. |
| "The most valuable thing that books like Amanda's can do is lay out the reasons why the hysteria over her case was woefully misplaced and bring home to readers the human cost of the miscarriage of justice that she and Raffaele suffered as a result," said Andrew Gumbel, author with Sollecito of Honour Bound: My Journey to Hell and Back with Amanda Knox. | "The most valuable thing that books like Amanda's can do is lay out the reasons why the hysteria over her case was woefully misplaced and bring home to readers the human cost of the miscarriage of justice that she and Raffaele suffered as a result," said Andrew Gumbel, author with Sollecito of Honour Bound: My Journey to Hell and Back with Amanda Knox. |
| "Many people in Britain are still addicted to the idea that Amanda was guilty, because it makes for a more sensational story. But it is simply not the case, as the factual record makes abundantly clear." | "Many people in Britain are still addicted to the idea that Amanda was guilty, because it makes for a more sensational story. But it is simply not the case, as the factual record makes abundantly clear." |
| A New York Times review said Knox, as an author, was by turns evocative and verbose, sympathetic and enigmatic. "She emerges from these pages less as a Jamesian heroine or Kafka-esque protagonist than as a naive, impetuous, somewhat quirky girl who loved soccer and the Beatles and who suddenly found herself caught up in a Hitchcockian nightmare, with bad luck and some bad judgment calls leading her into a labyrinth seemingly without end." | A New York Times review said Knox, as an author, was by turns evocative and verbose, sympathetic and enigmatic. "She emerges from these pages less as a Jamesian heroine or Kafka-esque protagonist than as a naive, impetuous, somewhat quirky girl who loved soccer and the Beatles and who suddenly found herself caught up in a Hitchcockian nightmare, with bad luck and some bad judgment calls leading her into a labyrinth seemingly without end." |
| • This article was amended on 29 April 2013 because the original said Perugia was in southern Italy. This has been corrected to say central Italy. | • This article was amended on 29 April 2013 because the original said Perugia was in southern Italy. This has been corrected to say central Italy. |
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