Flatmate ‘covered her ears as student screamed’

THE American flatmate of murdered Meredith Kercher has told Italian police she covered her ears as the student screamed.

The flatmate, named in reports as Amanda Knox, has given a partial confession but keeps changing her story, according to reports.

Police chief Arturo De Felice said that Knox had said: “I can’t remember how long they were in there, but at one point I heard Meredith scream.

“I was horrified. After that I don’t remember anything. I was very confused.”

Italian police are continuing to question Knox, 20, her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 24, and Congolese immigrant Patrick Lumumba, 37.

De Felice said all three were present at the murder scene and all played a different role.

However, the three have not been charged or formally arrested.

The British student’s semi-naked body was found hidden under a duvet with a deep cut to her throat in her room in the central Italian city of Perugia.

The murder has resonated around Europe where thousands of young people take a year away from their home university to study abroad under the Erasmus exchange scheme.

De Felice said that, although an autopsy found no evidence of rape, there were reasons to suspect a sexual assault.

Ms Kercher, from Coulsdon, south London, was in her third year of a European Studies course at Leeds University, taking a year to study in Italy.

“She was excited at the prospect of spending the year studying there to improve her language skills, make new friends and immerse herself in the culture,” her sister Stephanie said at a news conference in Perugia, alongside her father.

“She was pursuing her dream and we can take some comfort in the fact that she left us at what was a very happy time in her life.”

Officers have been carrying out checks for fingerprints on two mobile phones belonging to Ms Kercher which were found at or near the scene.

An elderly woman found one mobile abandoned in her garden and handed it to police. Detectives traced it to the flat, where they kicked in the door and discovered the body.

Yesterday it emerged Knox wrote a short story about the drugging and rape of a young woman.

The American wrote a blog under the name “Foxy Knoxy” on the popular networking site MySpace to keep her friends up to date with her activities while she was abroad.