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Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito found guilty of Meredith Kercher's murder Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito found guilty of Meredith Kercher's murder
(35 minutes later)
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have been found guilty of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher. Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito have been found guilty of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.
The verdict comes after judges in Florence overruled their previous acquittal. Knox, 26, has been sentenced to 28 years and 6 months, and an extradition verdict was also given for the woman who awaited her fate in the US city of Seattle. Sollecito, 29, received 25 years and has had his passport withheld.
Neither Knox nor Sollecito were in the courtroom as the verdict was announced, though Sollecito had attended the lengthy hearings. They both pleaded not guilty. Kercher, a 21-year-old Leeds University student at the time, was found with her throat slashed in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox in Perugia, central Italy in 2007.
Members of Miss Kercher's family were there to hear the verdict while she waited in Seattle. The court re-instated the guilty verdict it first gave the pair in 2009, after nearly 12 hours of deliberations in Florence, Tuscany, on Thursday.
The verdict ends four months of arguments in Knox and Italian Raffaele Sollecito’s third trial for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, her British roommate, in the Italian town of Perugia. The pair was freed in 2011, but the case was re-opened by the Italian Supreme Court, Rome, in March 2013 after prosecutors launched an appeal, arguing that DNA evidence had been disregarded in the previous trial.
It is the third time American Knox, 26, and Italian national Sollecito, 29, have faced trial over the death. While Sollecito was in court on Thursday morning, he did not return for the verdict.
The co-accused were originally found guilty of murder in 2009, and were handed jail terms totalling more than 50 years. In a statement issued on Thursday after her conviction was upheld, Knox blamed overzealous prosecutors and a "prejudiced and narrow-minded investigation" for what she called a perversion of justice and wrongful conviction.
They were cleared nearly two years later - but the appeal court ordered a fresh trial in March last year. Meredith Kercher, who was murdered in 2007 (AP) Rudy Guede, a drug dealer from the Ivory Coast, is already serving a 16-year sentence over the death - though the courts have said he did not act alone.
It is unknown whether the duo will appeal the decision, or whether Knox could be extradited from the US to Italy. Prosecutors said that Kercher was the victim of a sex game gone awry, but both Knox and Sollecito claimed they were both innocent and were not in the apartment when Kercher died. 
Rudy Guede, a drug dealer, is serving a 16-year sentence over the death - though the courts have said he did not act alone. However, they have since alleged that Kercher was murdered as the result of an argument over cleanliness in the apartment in the Italian college city.
More to follow... The court has also ordered that damages are paid to the family of Ms Kercher.
Speaking outside the court, Knox's lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, said she will launch an appeal against the decision. He added that the telephone line “went dead” when he told his client she was found guilty.
Amanda Knox, pictured here in 2011, was not present in the courtroom for the verdict (Reuters) Mr Ghirga said: “For those that, like me, are convinced that Amanda is innocent, it is a very difficult time.
"We have to respect the verdict but we will challenge them.
"We're very sad at the moment. We will definitely try everything. This is not the final word.
"The road to the next appeal is quite difficult but we are ready for a new battle."
Sollecito's solicitor, Giulia Bongiorno, said she had not spoken to him yet.
She said: ”He was prepared for any outcome. He is totally astonished why the court keeps changing mind in this way.
“The court gives credit to rumours.
"This is not a surprise. They (Knox and Sollecito) have always been considered the murderers."
Miss Kercher's brother Lyle, who was in the court for today's verdict, said he could not forgive those responsible for his sister's death.
In an interview with Sky, Mr Kercher said: "I think you'd have to be a very strong-willed - arguably religious - person to find that forgiveness.
"I think it is so easily forgotten what happened to Meredith.
"When I read reports even now, I find myself skimming past the paragraphs that refer to what actually happened to her because it is so horrific.
"I think anybody would just need to read in detail or know what happened to her to then question themselves - could they ever forgive someone who did that to their sister or daughter?"
Additional reporting by PAAdditional reporting by PA
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