Key witness says Knox is a killer

American Amanda Knox was confirmed as the killer of British student Meredith Kercher yesterday by the very witness she hoped would clear her.

Rudy Guede, the first person to be convicted of Miss Kercher’s killing in Perugia, Italy, had been called to give evidence in an appeal by Ms Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito against their convictions.

But he told the hearing he thinks the couple were the killers, confirming his previous accusations.

Ms Knox said she was “shocked and anguished” at the evidence. In a spontaneous statement seconds after Mr Guede left the court, she stood up and said “he knows we weren’t there” and that she doesn’t know what happened the night of the murder.

Mr Guede was convicted of the 2007 murder of Miss Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, in a fast-track trial held separately from the trial of Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito .

He denies wrongdoing but has admitted being at the crime scene.

Prosecutors claimed in Ms Knox’s trial that Mr Guede, Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito killed Miss Kercher in what had begun as a sexual game.

In the witness box yesterday, Mr Guede confirmed the contents of a letter he wrote to his lawyers last year, which ends with a direct accusation to Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito. In the March 2010 letter, which was read out loud in court, Mr Guede wrote that he had nothing to do with the “horrible murder of the splendid and wonderful Meredith Kercher by Knox and Sollecito.”

“This is a thought I’ve always had in my mind,” Mr Guede told the court.

“It’s not up to me to decide who killed Meredith Kercher,” he added. “I’ve always said who was there that damned night in that house.”