Gifts for killer Knox

AMANDA KNOX has been given a large bag of Christmas presents by shopkeepers from a town near her prison, her mother said yesterday.

American Knox, 22, was sentenced this month to 26 years in jail for the sexual assault and murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

Speaking from Perugia, Italy, where her daughter is behind bars, Edda Mellas said the gifts had been given to her by merchants in the nearby historic town of Assisi. But she will not be permitted to give Knox many of the gifts due to prison regulations, she said.

“There’s a woman in Assisi who said she wanted to collect something for Amanda, so she went around the merchants in the town and I just received a huge bag of gifts for her for Christmas,” she said. “It’s really quite amazing. Unfortunately most of the gifts I can’t give to Amanda, but I’ll save them for her.”

Among the gifts were chocolates, a potted Christmas tree and Italian literature, including books about St Francis of Assisi.

“She’s not allowed candy in jail, so I can’t take the chocolates in and they won’t allow the tree either,” Ms Mellas said. “I can take the books in though.”

This will be Knox’s third Christmas behind bars and her family hope it will be her last.