ITALIAN authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a fourth suspect following the murder of Meredith Kercher, the British student, in Perugia.

Police refused to name him, but he is believed to be a north African linked to drug-dealing who lived near the cottage where Kercher was killed.

The search for a fourth suspect was prompted by the discovery of a bloody fingerprint on Kercher’s pillow that did not come from any of the other three suspects. That fingerprint has now been matched with other DNA found in the cottage.

Italian newspapers yesterday claimed the same DNA may have been found on swabs taken from Kercher’s body, suggesting the fourth suspect was involved in sexually assaulting her.

New witness 'saw Meredith suspects together'

Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Guede were see at the house in Perugia where the American student died

Multimedia

• Murder in Perugia

Background

• Meredith Kercher: Q&A

• New DNA not from Meredith suspects

• Timings crucial to Kercher murder investigation

The lawyer for Diya “Patrick” Lumumba, one of the other suspects, has claimed he was “set up” and will soon be freed.

“We have to conclude there was an attempt to make the blame fall on him and that means he was set up,” said Giuseppe Sereni, lawyer for Lumumba, a Congolese. It was partly “a question of race”, he added.

Senior sources close to the investigation admitted the case against Lumumba, 44, was in danger of collapsing for lack of forensic evidence.

Lumumba, manager of a bar, is being held with Amanda Knox, 20, an American student who lived with Kercher, and Raffaele Sollecito, 24, Knox’s boyfriend. In statements to police, Knox has blamed Lumumba for the murder. However, she later claimed she had not been in the cottage at the time of the murder.

This weekend, supporters of Lumumba held a demonstration, protesting his innocence. His Polish girlfriend, Alessandra Beata, visited him in prison and said: “When we hugged, we started laughing. We’re not mad, it was just the reaction of somebody who knows they’re not guilty and finds themselves in a crazy nightmare.”

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