PERUGIA A man suspected of murdering the British exchange student Meredith Kercher was flown back to Italy after his arrest in Germany.

Rudy Hermann Guede, who has joint Italian-Ivorian citizenship, left Perugia after Ms Kercher was found with her throat cut on the morning of November 2. He was arrested by German police two weeks ago while on a train without a ticket and did not contest extradition back to Italy.

He was flown from Koblenz to Rome before being transferred to Capanne prison in Perugia, where two other suspects, Amanda Knox, 20, an American student, and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 23, are being held. Mr Guede is expected to be questioned by investigating judges today. His lawyers say that he admits having had sex with Meredith that night, but says that she was killed while he was in the bathroom, by two Italians he had never seen before. He claims that he tried to help Meredith, but that, after she died, he panicked and fled.

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