A judge in Perugia has concluded that a second post-mortem examination on the body of Meredith Kercher is not necessary, Italian media reports have said, as it emerged that the murdered British student shared a meal with her killers before she died.

The decision, by investigating Judge Claudia Matteini, should clear the way for Ms Kercher’s body to be released to her family for burial, though it is not clear if they have yet been officially notified that the funeral can go ahead.

On Monday and Tuesday forensic scientists and lawyers presented evidence to Judge Matteini, the investigating judge, on whether the results from the initial post-mortem were sufficient to establish the time and cause of Ms Kercher’s death.

The judge has brought in new forensic scientists to decide the time of the death, the length of time that it took Ms Kercher to die after her throat was cut, the nature of the sexual violence committed and the compatibility of the wounds with knives owned by Raffaele Sollecito, one of the suspects being held.

Their conclusions will be reached, however, on the basis of the post-mortem conducted soon after Ms Kercher’s death by Dr Luca Lalli, the official pathologist.

Ms Kercher, a Leeds University exchange student from Coulsdon, South London, studying at the Perugia University for Foreigners, was murdered at her home in Perugia on the night of November 1-2.

Three people are in custody in connection with the killing: Amanda Knox, 20, Ms Kercher’s American flatmate, Mr Sollecito, 23, Ms Knox’s Italian boyfriend, and Rudy Hermann Guede, 20, an Ivorian with joint Italian nationality who is awaiting extradition from Germany.

A fourth man, Diya “Patrick” Lumumba, 38, a Congolese bar owner, was released from custody last week but remains under investigation. All four deny sexually assaulting and murdering Ms Kercher.

Investigators said that Ms Kercher almost certainly shared a meal with her killers on the night that she was murdered. Giuliano Mignini, the investigating magistrate in the case, said that the post-mortem on Ms Kercher had revealed a mushroom in her oesophagus.

He said that Ms Kercher was known to have eaten an early supper of pizza and ice cream with two British women friends, both fellow students, at six o’clock on the evening of her death. But Sophie Purton, one of the friends, had testified that the meal contained no mushrooms.

Mr Mignini said that Ms Kercher and Ms Knox were fond of mushrooms. He found it very probable that mushrooms had been part of a late-evening snack in which Ms Kercher joined, perhaps before or during a sex and drugs party that “went wrong” and ended in her death.

He said that champignon mushrooms of the kind found in Ms Kercher’s oesophagus had been found in the fridge at Mr Sollecito’s flat, where the kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon was also found.

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