Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito late yesterday were found guilty of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher after judges in Florence overruled their acquittal.

It is the third time American Knox, 26, and Italian national Sollecito, 29, have faced trial over the death, in Perugia in 2007.

Neither defendant was in the courtroom as the verdict was announced, though Sollecito had attended the lengthy hearings.

Members of Kercher’s family were there to hear the verdict.

The co-accused were originally found guilty of murder in 2009, and were handed jail terms totalling more than 50 years.

They were cleared nearly two years later – but the appeal court ordered a fresh trial in March last year.

Yesterday, after lengthy deliberations, the court heard that both were guilty.

We have to respect the verdict but we will challenge them

It is unknown whether the duo will appeal the decision, or whether Knox could be extradited from the US to Italy.

Rudy Guede, a drug dealer, is serving a 16-year sentence over the death – though the courts have said he did not act alone.

Kercher, a 21-year-old Leeds University student from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found with her throat slashed in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox in Perugia, central Italy, in November 2007.

Prosecutors claimed that Kercher was the victim of a drug-fuelled sex game gone awry.

Knox and her former boyfriend Sollecito have consistently protested their innocence and claim they were not even in the apartment on the night Kercher died.

Knox was convicted of the murder in December 2009 along with Sollecito following a high-profile trial, with Knox sentenced to 26 years in prison and Sollecito 25.

The pair were cleared in 2011 after an appeal court found the prosecution lacking and criticised large swathes of the case against them.

Italy’s highest criminal court, the Court of Cassation, ruled last March that an appeal court in Florence must re-hear the case against Knox and Sollecito for the murder.

Knox, who now lives in Seattle, said she would not attend due to being unable to afford to travel to Italy and remained in the US for the duration of the retrial.

Knox was given a sentence of 28 years and six months, and Sollecito – who has had his passport withheld – received a 25-year term. Speaking outside the court, Knox’s lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, said she will launch an appeal against the decision.

But he said the telephone line “went dead” as he told his client of the verdict.

Ghirga said: “For those that, like me, are convinced that Amanda is innocent, it is a very difficult time. We have to respect the verdict but we will challenge them. We’re very sad at the moment. We will definitely try everything. This is not the final word.

“I am very upset by this decision. We continue to be brave, we have plenty of courage. The road to the next appeal is quite difficult but we are ready for a new battle.”

Sollecito’s solicitor, Giulia Bongiorno, said she had not spoken to her client yet.

She said: “He was prepared for any outcome. He is totally astonished why the court keeps changing mind in this way. The court gives credit to rumours. This is not a surprise.

“They (Knox and Sollecito) have always been considered the murderers.”

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