Amanda Knox, the American student being investigated over the murder of Meredith Kercher, was definitely at the crime scene and even left a bloody fingerprint, Italian prosecutors said last night.

Giuliano Mignini, the Perugia prosecutor, said that Ms Knox’s blood had been found on a tap in the bathroom despite her alleged attempts to “clean up” all traces of herself.

In a report opposing an appeal by defence lawyers for the release of Ms Knox, 20, from Seattle and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 23, Mr Mignini said that initial “grave indications of guilt” in both cases had been reinforced during the inquiry.

He said that the pair, who are being held in separate cells and are allowed to have no contact, had made a series of “contradictory and absurd” statements in a tortuous attempt to exonerate themselves during the inquiry into the death of Ms Kercher on November 1.

The two and Rudy Hermann Guede, 20, an Ivorian with joint Italian nationality are suspected of involvement in the killing. Mr Guede is awaiting extradition from Germany, where he was arrested last week. All deny killing Ms Kercher.

Ms Kercher, an exchange student from Leeds University attending the Perugia University for Foreigners, was sexually assaulted and murdered at the house. She was found seminaked with her throat cut.

Claudia Matteini, the investigating judge, is weighing whether the funeral of Ms Kercher, whose body was flown back to Britain on November 12, can go ahead, following reports that police experts believe a second post mortem examination is unnecessary.

The Kercher family’s Italian lawyer said that they were “just waiting to be able to have a funeral. The wait has obviously been extremely painful for them”. He said he had asked the judge “to make a quick decision for the sake of the family”. They were finding it difficult to cope with the delay.

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