Reports state Meredith ‘may not have been sexually assaulted’

BRITISH exchange student Meredith Kercher may not have been sexually assaulted on the night she was murdered, according to reports.

The information came in leaks made to the Italian media and seems to contradict claims previously made by police in the country.

Miss Kercher, a 21-year-old student from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found with her throat slit at the house she shared in Perugia in November.

American Amanda Knox, 20, her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 24, and Ivorian Rudy Hermann Guede are all being held on suspicion of sexual assault and murder.

All three deny any involvement in the killing.

Medical experts appointed by a court to firm up details surrounding the murder have filed papers to judge Claudia Matteini that have been leaked to Italian media ahead of a hearing on Saturday.

News agency Ansa reported that the experts said Miss Kercher had had sex shortly before she was killed but that it was impossible to say if the sex had been non-consensual.

They also said injuries suffered by Miss Kercher meant there was no chance of being able to save her, the agency reported.

And they added that the injuries were “not incompatible” with a knife recovered by officers from Sollecito’s house nearby.

DNA belonging to Amanda Knox and Ms Kercher were found on the knife.

Police in Perugia had previously maintained there was evidence of a violent sexual encounter.

They also say they have forensic evidence linking Knox, Sollecito and Guede to the scene of the crime.

Walter Biscotti, a member of Guede’s legal team, said the new information backed up what he had maintained all along.

He said: “I have read the leaked reports and it tallies with what we have always said — that the claim of sexual violence has never been proved.

“This is clearly a very important element of the police’s case that is being undermined.”

Police in Perugia were unavailable for comment.