“It is possible to reconstruct what happened on the evening of November 1. Sollecito, Raffaele, and Knox, Amanda, spent the entire afternoon smoking hashish. In the evening, around 8.30pm, while Knox found herself at the house of Sollecito, she received a message from Diya Lumumba who ... confirmed the appointment that evening, having obviously agreed beforehand that the girl would provide him with help in having an encounter with her friend Meredith.

“Raffaele Sollecito, bored with the same old evenings, and wanting to experience extreme sensations, intense sexual relations which break up the monotony of everyday life, went out with Amanda and met Lumumba at Piazza Grimana at 9pm. They went together to the apartment on via della Pergola 7, to which only Amanda had the key. It was roughly at this time that both Sollecito and Knox switched off their mobile phones until the following morning.

“A short while later, Meredith returned, or she could have already been there. She went into her bedroom with Patrick, after which something went wrong, in the sense that Sollecito in all probability joined them and the two began to make advances, which the girl refused. She was then threatened with a knife, the knife which Sollecito generally carried with him and which was used to strike Meredith in the neck.

“The three, realising what had happened, quickly left the house, creating a mess with the intention of simulating a break-in, spreading blood everywhere, and in an attempt to clean up drops of blood in the bath, on the ground and in the sink.

“On November 2, 2007, at 12.35pm, persons from the Postal Police of Perugia went to Via della Pergola 7 in order to trace Filomena Romanelli, since the same morning Mrs Lana Elisabetta had found in the garden attached to her house, in Perugia, Via Sperandi 5b, two mobile phones, one of which one had a Vodaphone Sim card belonging to the same Romanelli.

“On reaching the destination, the agents found two youths outside the house identified as Knox, Amanda Marie, who lived at that address, and Sollecito, Raffaele. They said they were waiting for the Carabinieri military police, whom they had called that morning when they had become aware of a window with glass broken and suspected a theft.

“Meanwhile, Romanelli, the housemate of Knox, arrived and verified that nothing had been taken from the apartment. In the course of the search it was ascertained that the door of the room which was used by Meredith Kercher, the other girl living in the apartment, was closed and locked, and it was decided to break down the door, because Romanelli said it was strange that her friend Kercher could have both her telephones switched off, having lately used also the phone with Romanelli's Sim card, and that the door was closed.

“When the door was opened there was a chilling scene, in that the room was found in disorder with blood stains everywhere, on the ground and on the walls. A foot could be seen under the duvet of the bed. The agents, in order to avoid polluting the scene of the crime, stopped everyone from entering the room.

“The girl, found dead with a blow to her neck with a sharp weapon, was identified as Meredith Kercher, an English student in Italy from September and enrolled on the Erasmus scheme and at the University of Perugia.

“From the first medical examination of the corpse by the pathologist, Dr Luca Lalli, it has been established that death occurred at 11pm at the earliest and at the latest one hour after, with a time frame between 10pm and midnight on November 1, 2007.

“The fact that Meredith was a victim of violence is evident from the state in which her body was found. In Dr Lalli's report there is evidence of bruising on the lips, gums and chin.

“There are the bruises and the lesions on the neck, which suggest that Meredith was held by the neck, leaving bruising compatible with the pressure of fingers, and subsequently threatened with a knife held to her throat. Meredith was held down, and bruises indicate a sexual act carried out or attempted in a hurry or against the girl's wishes.”

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