Murder of Meredith Kercher

Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher, a 21-year-old British student from Coulsdon, South London, was on an exchange year at the University of Perugia, Italy, studying European politics and Italian after transferring from the University of Leeds. She shared a flat at Via della Pergola 7 in Perugia with two Italian women and an American exchange student, Amanda Knox, who had moved in shortly after Kercher.

On the evening of 1 November 2007, an Italian public holiday, Kercher had dinner with friends and parted from them around 8:45 pm near her flat. She was not seen alive again. Knox, who said she had spent the night at Sollecito's flat, returned to Via della Pergola 7 the next morning and found signs of disturbance, including blood in the shared bathroom. Kercher's locked bedroom door was later forced open by a friend of flatmate Filomena Romanelli, and Kercher's body was discovered on the floor of her room, covered by a duvet.

An autopsy conducted by pathologist Luca Lalli found 16 bruises and seven cuts, including a fatal neck wound, and injuries interpreted by reviewing pathologists as consistent with sexual violence. Investigators initially focused on Knox and Sollecito, who were both taken into custody, along with bar owner Patrick Lumumba, whom Knox named during interrogation before he was released after being found to have an alibi. Bloodstained fingerprints at the scene were later matched to Rudy Guede, an Ivorian-born man who had lived in Perugia since childhood and had a history of break-ins; he was arrested in Germany.

Guede was tried separately in a fast-track procedure and, in October 2008, was found guilty of the sexual assault and murder of Kercher, receiving a 30-year sentence later reduced on appeal to 24 years and then, through an automatic fast-track reduction, to 16 years. He was released from prison in November 2021 after serving roughly 13 years, having also undertaken day release and community service in the preceding years.

Knox and Sollecito were tried before the Corte d'Assise of Perugia and, on 5 December 2009, were convicted of murder, receiving sentences of 26 and 25 years respectively. On appeal, a court-ordered review found significant flaws in the DNA evidence, and on 3 October 2011 Knox and Sollecito were acquitted and released after almost four years in custody; Knox's separate conviction for slandering Lumumba was upheld and increased. In 2013, Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation annulled the acquittal for "manifest illogicalities," ordering a retrial, which took place in Florence and resulted in renewed convictions in 2014. On 27 March 2015, the Supreme Court of Cassation quashed these convictions, ruling that Knox and Sollecito were innocent of murder and that no further trial should be held, citing "sensational investigative failures" and the absence of any biological trace linking them to the crime scene. Knox's slander conviction concerning Lumumba was upheld.

A funeral for Kercher was held at Croydon Minster on 14 December 2007, followed by burial at Mitcham Road Cemetery. The University of Leeds later awarded her degree posthumously, and a scholarship fund in her name was established in Perugia.