After an 11-month trial in the Italian university town of Perugia, Knox, 22, was sentenced to 26 years’ imprisonment and Sollecito, 25, received a 25-year sentence.
Knox burst into tears and hugged her lawyer as the verdict was read out in the case which has attracted huge interest in Italy and abroad. An impassive Sollecito turned and looked at his family as his stepmother called out: “Be strong, Raffaele!”
Both had proclaimed their innocence, with Knox telling the court during closing arguments on Thursday that she was “afraid of having the mask of a murderer forced on to me”.
The American student, from Seattle, was accused of masterminding the killing of 21-year-old Kercher, with whom she shared an apartment, in November 2007. Knox’s lawyer said he planned to appeal against the verdict.
Kercher, from Coulsdon in southeast England, was found semi-naked with her throat slit in the bedroom of her apartment in Perugia, where she was doing a year of overseas study.
Prosecutors had sought life terms for Knox and Sollecito, but they received lesser sentences because they were young and had no criminal records.
DNA was found on Kercher’s body from an Ivorian drifter with a criminal record, Rudy Guede, who was convicted in October 2008 and sentenced to 30 years in prison for her murder.
Guede, arrested in Germany, is appealing against the verdict. He has acknowledged he was in the house at the time of the killing and having sex with Kercher, but pointed the finger at Sollecito and Knox, whom he said he heard arguing with the Briton, followed by a scream.
