Amanda Knox

American student, 20, who shared house with Meredith Kercher

Amanda Knox told police that it was Patrick Diya Lumumba, 37, a Congolese immigrant, who was in Ms Kercher's bedroom and that she herself only "heard the screams". She said that she heard "thuds" and could "imagine what was happening".

"This affair has profoundly upset me and I'm very frightened of Patrick, the African guy, the owner of the Le Chic pub where I occasionally work," she told investigators.

She said she met Mr Lumumba on the evening of November 1 after sending a text message in reply to his with the words "Let's meet up" (Ci vediamo). "We met around nine o'clock at the basketball court at Piazza Grimana and we went back to my house. I don't remember if my friend Meredith was already there or whether she came later. What I can say is that the two of them (Meredith and Patrick) went off together."

She said she and Mr Lumumba had told Ms Kercher they wanted to "have some fun". "Patrick wanted her (Ms Kercher)," she said. "Patrick and Meredith went off together into Meredith's room while I think I stayed in the kitchen. I can't remember how long they were in the bedroom together, I can only say that at a certain point I heard Meredith screaming and I was so frightened I put my fingers in my ears. I don't remember anything after that, my head is really confused.

“I don’t remember if Meredith called out or if I heard thuds because I was upset, but I can imagine what was happening.” She claimed she had had a lot to drink and had fallen asleep.

She added: "I'm not sure whether Raffaele was there too that evening but I do remember waking up at his house in his bed and that in the morning I went back to where I lived, where I found the door open."

Raffaele Sollecito

Ms Knox's Italian boyfriend, 23

Police said Raffaele Sollecito had continued to claim he was not present on the evening of the murder. He said: "I went home, smoked a joint, and had dinner, but I don't remember what I ate. At around eleven my father phoned me on the house phone. I remember Amanda wasn't back yet. I surfed on the Internet for a couple of hours after my father's phone call and I stopped only when Amanda came back, about one in the morning I think.

"I don't remember what she was wearing or if she was wearing the same clothes she was wearing when we said goodbye before dinner. I don't remember if we had sex that evening. The next morning we woke around ten and she told me she wanted to go home to have a shower and change her clothes.

"She went off about half past ten and I went back to sleep. When she went off Amanda took an empty plastic bag, telling me it was for dirty washing. She came back around half past eleven and I remember she changed her clothes."

He said Ms Knox then "told me she was worried. She told me when she had got home the door was open and there were traces of blood in the bathroom. She asked me if that seemed strange. I replied that it did and advised her to phone her friends. She told me she had phoned Filomena (another housemate) but there was no reply from Meredith." The pair then went to the cottage together to investigate.

"She (Amanda) opened the door with her keys and I went in. I noted that Filomena's door was wide open, there was broken glass on the floor and the room was in chaos. Amanda's door was open too, but everything there was tidy. Then I went to Meredith's door and saw it was locked. First I checked to see if it was true what Amanda had said about the blood in the bathroom and I noticed drops of blood in the basin. On the mat there was something strange, a sort of mixture of water and blood, while the rest of the bathroom was clean and tidy."

He said he went outside "to see if I could climb up to Meredith's window" but could not. "I tried to force the door but couldn't, and at that point I decided to call my sister for advice because she is a Carabinieri officer. She told me to dial 112 (the Italian emergency number) but at that moment the postal police arrived." He added: "In my former statement I told you a load of rubbish because I believed Amanda's version of what happened and did not think about the inconsistencies."

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