Amanda Knox stays in the US as retrial opens in Italy

Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito were convicted in 2009 of killing the 21-year-old British student in what was described as a drug-fuelled sexual assault.

After winning an appeal in 2011 quashing the guilty verdict, both were freed from prison.

‘Contradictions’

But a new appeals process has begun after Italy’s supreme court overturned the acquittals in March, citing “contradictions and inconsistencies”.

Mr Sollecito’s father Francesco said he was confident his son’s innocence would be confirmed.

“Deeper examination can only demonstrate what we already know, that is that Raffaele Sollecito has nothing to do with what that poor girl had to suffer,” he told reporters.

Ms Knox, 26, has always denied murdering Kercher, when both were university exchange students in Perugia.

‘Plenty to fear’

She told ITV Daybreak last week: “I have plenty to fear because I was already imprisoned wrongfully, I was already convicted wrongfully and this is everything to fear, this, as an innocent person, is the ultimate nightmare, this does not make sense.”

Explaining her reasons for not returning to Italy for the retrial, Miss Knox said: “There are many reasons why I have made the decision.

It is so scary to have go to through this again – Amanda Knox

“One of the major reasons is because I have done this, I have given testimony… I can’t financially afford to be going back and forth to Italy.”

She added: “It is so scary to have go to through this again, I did not expect this to happen.

“And now I am not sure what to expect because I have two different experiences – I was wrongfully convicted and rightly acquitted for being innocent and now I have to hope that the next court is able to look at this without prejudice and realise that there is proof of my innocence here.”

Miss Knox is not obliged to attend and can be represented by her lawyers, who said she was following the case closely from home in Seattle.

‘Superficial ruling’

If found guilty, she could appeal again to Italy’s supreme court. If that failed, Italy could request her extradition.

Mr Sollecito, 29, who has also always protested his innocence, plans to attend some of the hearings, his father said.

Kercher was found with more than 40 wounds, including a deep gash in the throat, in the apartment she shared with Miss Knox in Perugia, a picturesque town in central Italy’s Umbria region that attracts students from around the world.

Lawyers for Kercher’s family have welcomed the retrial, criticising the previous ruling as “superficial”.