Police cast doubt on murder suspect's alibi

A police officer has dealt an apparent blow to the alibi of a young Italian man on trial for the murder of a British student, testifying today that there was no trace the defendant was using his computer during the hours the woman was stabbed to death.

Officer Marco Trotta was called to the stand by prosecutors who have accused students 24-year-old Raffaele Sollecito and 21-year-old Amanda Knox, his former American girlfriend, of murdering Meredith Kercher in 2007 in the Umbrian university town of Perugia.

Mr Trotta said tests on Sollecito’s computer found that no one had worked on it in some eight hours spanning the night in which Miss Kercher was stabbed in her bedroom.

Sollecito has maintained he was at his own apartment the night of the murder, working on his computer.

Both defendants deny any wrongdoing.