Knox a ‘talented and calculated liar’

AMANDA KNOX was branded a “talented and calculated liar” during the closing stages of British student Meredith Kercher’s murder trial.

Knox, a 22-year-old American is charged with her former boyfriend Rafelle Sollecito, 25, with killing Kercher during a sex game.

A lawyer representing the family of Meredith Kercher is seeking millions in damages from her American roommate and her Italian co-defendant being tried for the killing.

The family of 21-year-old Kercher has attached a civil lawsuit, to the criminal trial of Knox and Sollecito.

Prosecutors have asked the eight-member jury to give Knox and Sollecito a life sentence. A verdict is expected next week.

The body of Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia in November 2007.

Prosecutors believe she was killed at the end of a drug-induced sex game.

Yesterday lawyers spoke for bar owner Patrick Lumumba – who they claim she tried to frame with the murder.

Carlo Pacelli described Knox as a “talented and calculated liar” who had deliberately gone out of her way to frame Lumumba: “It was a ruthless defamation that destroyed Patrick as a man, husband and father. By naming him she hoodwinked the officer in charge of the murder investigation.”

Pacelli recalled how Knox told police she “covered her ears as Patrick murdered Meredith”.

Lumumba had been held for two weeks in custody before being released without charge after witnesses backed his claim he was at his Le Chic bar the night Meredith was killed.

Pacelli added: “Who is the real Amanda Knox? Is it the one we see before us here, simple water and soap.

“Or is she really a she devil, a diabolical person focused on sex, drugs and alcohol, living life to the extreme and borderline – this is the Amanda Knox of November 1, 2007.”

Lawyers acting for the family of Kercher asked the court to award them a €24 million in “symbolic” damages – to be paid out equally to her parents John and Arline, brothers Lyle and John, and sister Stefanie.

Under Italian law, relatives of victims in a criminal case, can put themselves forward as civil plaintiffs and ask for a compensation claim to be considered if a guilty conviction is passed and the money comes from the defendants.

Last week, prosecutor Giuliano Mignini called for Knox and Sollecito to be jailed for life. He said: “We must not forget what they are accused of and the victim – this was a murder accompanied by sexual violence for futile motives.

“A 21-year-old girl who a few days later should have gone back to London to see her ill mother who she was close to... But she was not able to return and embrace her family, she was killed in an appalling manner.”