Knox, who was sharing a house with Miss Kercher in Italy at the time of the 2007 murder, was sentenced to 28 years and six months in jail. Her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, was also found guilty and sentenced to 25 years.
In a statement, the American said she was “frightened and saddened by this unjust verdict”.
However, Knox is living in Seattle and will only serve her sentence if she is extradited, a process that could be expected to take a year while the verdict is finalised. Sollecito, on the other hand, is Italian and could be arrested at any time.
Lawyers for both indicated they would appeal against the verdict.
“Having been found innocent before, I expected better from the Italian justice system,” Knox said. “The evidence and accusatory theory do not justify a verdict of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Rather, nothing has changed. There has always been a marked lack of evidence. My family and I have suffered greatly from this wrongful persecution.”
Knox acknowledged that Miss Kercher’s family deserved respect and support but also hit out at the “overzealous and intransigent prosecution, prejudiced and narrow-minded investigation, unwillingness to admit mistake, reliance on unreliable testimony and evidence, character assassination, inconsistent and unfounded accusatory theory, and counterproductive and coercive interrogation techniques that produce false confessions and inaccurate statements”.
Knox and Sollecito were first found guilty of murdering Miss Kercher at a 2009 trial, when headlines dubbed her “Foxy Knoxy” in a case that attracted widespread global attention.
Prosecutors claimed at that trial that the couple and drug dealer Rudy Guede had been involved in a drug-fuelled sex game that led to Miss Kercher’s murder. Guede is currently serving a 16-year sentence over her death but courts have said he did not act alone.
Knox and Sollecito were cleared following an independent review of the evidence in 2011 and released. In March last year, an Italian court overturned the appeal and ordered a fresh trial.
Miss Kercher’s family was in court to hear the verdict. “We didn’t know what to expect. We are still in shock,” her sister Stephanie Kercher, said.
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