Q&A: Meredith Kercher murder

What happened?

British exchange student Meredith Kercher was found dead in her bed in Perugia, Italy on 2 November.

She had been stabbed three times in the neck. According to a preliminary reconstruction made by the judge overseeing the investigation, it is thought that she was held face down and stabbed during an attempted sex attack.

Who are the Italian police investigating?

Although not formally made suspects, three people are being held in jail.

They are Ms Kercher's American flatmate 20-year-old Amanda Knox (pictured above)and her 23-year-old Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.

The third is Congolese musician Diya Lumumba who owns a bar Ms Knox worked at.

All three have denied taking part in the killing.

A document in which the judge explains her decision to imprison them, however, states that she believes there to be "serious indications of guilt" in all three cases.

If not suspects, why are they being held?

Under Italian law anyone under investigation can be held for lengthy periods - up to a year, even - if there is a chance they could flee the country, tamper with evidence or reoffend.

The risk of flight in this case was deemed high by Judge Matteini as two were foreigners and the third could be halped to escape by his American girlfriend.

What have investigators found so far?

The movements of the suspects

• The previous month Ms Knox had written in a blog that Mr Sollecito was bored and keen to experience "strong emotions."
• The day before Ms Kercher was found dead, Ms Knox and her boyfriend "spent the entire afternoon smoking hashish".
• Ms Knox made an appointment by text message with Lumumba who she met with her boyfriend and together they went to the flat she shared with Ms Kercher around 9pm.
• At around this time Mr Sollecito and Ms Knox turned off their mobiles, turning them back on the following morning.

The postmortem

• Bruising was found on Ms Kercher's lips and gums, and on her left cheek and chin - injuries were compatible with a prone position into which she was forced, and the pressure on a face pushed to the ground to hold her still.
• Marks on her neck that suggest she was threatened with a knife. The knife injured her neck twice, then went in deeply causing the fatal wound.

Police who discovered the body found a "horrifying scene". In her room, there were "bloodstains everywhere, on the floor and on the wall".

What's the latest development?

Police investigating the killing have allegedly found DNA matching that of both the murder victim and her flatmate Amanda Knox on a knife in the house of Knox's boyfriend, it emerged last night.

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