‘Absurd’ to accuse Knox of killing says ex-lover

THE thought of Amanda Knox killing someone in a moment of anger is “absurd and unrealistic”, the American student’s former lover Raffaele Sollecito has said.

The pair were convicted last week of sexually assaulting and murdering British student Meredith Kercher, who was stabbed to death in Perugia, Italy, in November 2007.

Knox, 22, was jailed for 26 years and Italian Sollecito, 25, was jailed for 25 years.

Speaking through his lawyer, Luca Maori, to Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, Sollecito said: “(Amanda) is a very sweet girl.”

Knox’s promise of “hot sex” as they shopped for underwear after the murder had been misinterpreted, he said.

“We went to buy underwear because all Amanda’s stuff had been seized,” he told the newspaper.

“Everything that’s been said is wrong. It was only a joke.”

The incident has been cited as an example of Knox’s unemotional response to the discovery of her house mate’s body.

Sollecito said he was not in love with Knox now but considered her his “companion in misfortune”.

The semi-naked body of Ms Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found with her throat slit.

Prosecutors said Sollecito held the Leeds University student down while Knox stabbed her to death. The two committed the killing along with small- time drug dealer Rudy Guede, 22, who was jailed for 30 years last October.

Knox, from Seattle, become a source of media fascination during the trial in Perugia, being alternatively depicted as a wide- eyed innocent and a cold-blooded she-devil.

No clear motive emerged during the trial; prosecutor Manuela Comodi told the court last week “we live in an age of violence with no motive”.

Knox and Sollecito are both planning to appeal against the verdicts.