Amanda Knox: Extraordinary unseen letter that Knox wrote to parents of Meredith Kercher
The note written in jail to student's grieving family said: “I’m not the one who killed your daughter. I think about her every day”
Painful memory: Amanda Knox in a US TV interview this month
ABC
Locked up as a murderer, Amanda Knox wrote a letter to victim Meredith Kercher’s family saying: “I’m sorry for your loss.”The Sunday People can reveal she told of her friendship with the tragic British student and said: “I’m not the one who killed your daughter and sister.“I think about her every day. I the relatively brief time that Meredith was part of my life she was always kind to me.“I can only attempt to imagine the extent of your grief.”The letter was never posted. Knox’s lawyers advised her not to send it in case prosecutors used it to imply she felt guilt.The girl the world knew as Foxy Knoxy wrote it while in prison awaiting an appeal.It is published for the first time in her book about her ordeal – Waiting To Be Heard. She faces a retrial because last month an Italian court overturned a decision to clear US citizen Amanda, 25.Four years ago she and Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 29, were found guilty of knifing Meredith, 21, to death.Those convictions were overturned in 2011, shortly after Knox wrote the note.Lawyers advised her against sending the letter, in which she said: “I’m sorry for your loss and I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to say so.” Her legal team told her the court could view the letter as a “sympathy plea”.During the appeal hearing Knox told the court: “Meredith was killed. I have always wanted justice for her. I want truth.”
Friendly: Murder victim Meredith
Chris Grieve
Asked last week about the Kercher family, from Coulsdon, Surrey, she said: “My understanding is her father thinks I’m the killer of his daughter and that’s painful. I hope they will read my book.” Meredith was found dead in her bedroom in Perugia on November 1, 2007.The Sunday People revealed last month a man jailed for 16 years for her murder – Ivory Coast-born Rudy Guede – could be freed before Knox’s retrial, which is set to begin next year.Here we print revelations from Knox’s Waiting To Be Heard, published in the US and Australia by HarperCollins. The risk of libel means it will not be sold here other than online...
On sexKnox talks about her sex life after she arrived in Italy, including a one-night stand with Cristiano, a man she met on a train to Florence.She recalled: “I’d just turned 20. This was my first one-night stand. I’d told friends I couldn’t see myself sleeping with some random guy. But Cristiano was a game changer.”Two weeks into her stay in Perugia she had sex with an Italian named Mirko, who invited her to his home for a pizza. Knox also slept with “Bobby from Rome” before getting together with boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. In jail she kissed a girl but no more.On suicideWhile languishing in prison in Italy, Knox was plagued by thoughts of taking her life.Imagining an opportunity at bathtime, she wrote: “The running water would deter inmates from invading your privacy and the steam would fog up the guard’s mirror. I imagined cutting both my wrists and sinking into oblivion in a quiet, hot mist.On drugsDrugs were “common as pasta” at the villa shared by Meredith and Knox, where the Brit was found dead.Knox took the room at 7 Via della Pergola after one person living there asked if she was “OK” with cannabis being smoked in the house.Knox wrote: “Marijuana was as common as pasta. We all chipped in. It was purely social. Not something I’d ever do alone.”She told boyfriend Raffaele cannabis is “my vice”.Knox regretted lying to police about drug use at the house in the wake of the murder.“I wondered which straw it would take to break me actually to do it.“I imagined myself as a corpse. It made me feel sick, not relieved. It was a fantasy I had many times – terrible, desperate recurring thoughts.”n MeredithKnox said she quickly formed a close bond with Meredith.She wrote: “I liked her a lot and she seemed to enjoy being with me. I could see us keeping in touch by email when our year was over.“Maybe we’d even end up visiting each other in our home towns. I liked our easy togetherness. We did what all girls do. We talked about the guys we liked and ones we left behind.”Knox denied court claims they had fights over men, money and manners. She said they only had a mild falling out over cleaning the loo.
The note written in jail to student's grieving family said: “I’m not the one who killed your daughter. I think about her every day”
Painful memory: Amanda Knox in a US TV interview this month ABC
Locked up as a murderer, Amanda Knox wrote a letter to victim Meredith Kercher’s family saying: “I’m sorry for your loss.”The Sunday People can reveal she told of her friendship with the tragic British student and said: “I’m not the one who killed your daughter and sister.“I think about her every day. I the relatively brief time that Meredith was part of my life she was always kind to me.“I can only attempt to imagine the extent of your grief.”The letter was never posted. Knox’s lawyers advised her not to send it in case prosecutors used it to imply she felt guilt.The girl the world knew as Foxy Knoxy wrote it while in prison awaiting an appeal.It is published for the first time in her book about her ordeal – Waiting To Be Heard. She faces a retrial because last month an Italian court overturned a decision to clear US citizen Amanda, 25.Four years ago she and Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 29, were found guilty of knifing Meredith, 21, to death.Those convictions were overturned in 2011, shortly after Knox wrote the note.Lawyers advised her against sending the letter, in which she said: “I’m sorry for your loss and I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to say so.” Her legal team told her the court could view the letter as a “sympathy plea”.During the appeal hearing Knox told the court: “Meredith was killed. I have always wanted justice for her. I want truth.”
Friendly: Murder victim Meredith Chris Grieve
Asked last week about the Kercher family, from Coulsdon, Surrey, she said: “My understanding is her father thinks I’m the killer of his daughter and that’s painful. I hope they will read my book.” Meredith was found dead in her bedroom in Perugia on November 1, 2007.The Sunday People revealed last month a man jailed for 16 years for her murder – Ivory Coast-born Rudy Guede – could be freed before Knox’s retrial, which is set to begin next year.Here we print revelations from Knox’s Waiting To Be Heard, published in the US and Australia by HarperCollins. The risk of libel means it will not be sold here other than online...
On sexKnox talks about her sex life after she arrived in Italy, including a one-night stand with Cristiano, a man she met on a train to Florence.She recalled: “I’d just turned 20. This was my first one-night stand. I’d told friends I couldn’t see myself sleeping with some random guy. But Cristiano was a game changer.”Two weeks into her stay in Perugia she had sex with an Italian named Mirko, who invited her to his home for a pizza. Knox also slept with “Bobby from Rome” before getting together with boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. In jail she kissed a girl but no more.On suicideWhile languishing in prison in Italy, Knox was plagued by thoughts of taking her life.Imagining an opportunity at bathtime, she wrote: “The running water would deter inmates from invading your privacy and the steam would fog up the guard’s mirror. I imagined cutting both my wrists and sinking into oblivion in a quiet, hot mist.On drugsDrugs were “common as pasta” at the villa shared by Meredith and Knox, where the Brit was found dead.Knox took the room at 7 Via della Pergola after one person living there asked if she was “OK” with cannabis being smoked in the house.Knox wrote: “Marijuana was as common as pasta. We all chipped in. It was purely social. Not something I’d ever do alone.”She told boyfriend Raffaele cannabis is “my vice”.Knox regretted lying to police about drug use at the house in the wake of the murder.“I wondered which straw it would take to break me actually to do it.“I imagined myself as a corpse. It made me feel sick, not relieved. It was a fantasy I had many times – terrible, desperate recurring thoughts.”n MeredithKnox said she quickly formed a close bond with Meredith.She wrote: “I liked her a lot and she seemed to enjoy being with me. I could see us keeping in touch by email when our year was over.“Maybe we’d even end up visiting each other in our home towns. I liked our easy togetherness. We did what all girls do. We talked about the guys we liked and ones we left behind.”Knox denied court claims they had fights over men, money and manners. She said they only had a mild falling out over cleaning the loo.