Italy clears Knox of murder that gripped world

Italy’s top court threw out Amanda Knox’s conviction for the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher, bringing a sensational end to an eight-year legal drama that has gripped a global audience. Judges at the Court of Cassation on Friday also quashed all charges against Knox’s Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito after 10 hours of deliberations in Rome.

“I am tremendously relieved and grateful for the decision of the Supreme Court of Italy,” Knox said in a statement from her home in Seattle.

The 27-year-old, who served four years in prison before being freed on appeal in 2011, added: “The knowledge of my innocence has given me strength in the darkest times of this ordeal.”