Amanda Knox is appealing against her conviction for the murder of Meredith Kercher A convicted child murderer has told a court he has information which could clear Amanda Knox, who was found guilty of killing her British roommate.
American Knox, 23, is appealing against her murder conviction for killing 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in Italy.
Mario Alessi told the appeal of a prison confession made to him by Rudy Guede, who was also convicted, in a separate case, of killing Miss Kercher.
He said Guede confided Knox and Rafaelle Sollecito were innocent.
Sollecito, Knox’s 26-year-old former boyfriend, is also appealing against his murder conviction.
Alessi is a Sicilian worker who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 18-month old Tommaso Onofri in 2006.
He told the court in the Italian town of Perugia that Guede made the claim in November 2009, during recreation time at the Viterbo prison.
Ivory Coast national Guede has denied the claim.
Four other inmates, who claim they have information which clears both Knox and Sollecito, are due to give evidence in the appeals trial.
Among them is Luciano Aviello, a Mafia member, who is expected to claim that his brother, a fugitive from justice, killed Kercher as he was robbing apartments in the neighbourhood.
“The importance of Aviello is that the previous court wouldn’t hear him, and from what I understand of it that’s actually against the law,” said Knox’s stepfather, Chris Mellas.
Knox is serving a 26-year sentence while co-defendant Italian Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years.
Miss Kercher, from Coulsdon, south London, was found with her throat cut at her flat in Perugia.
Prosecutors said the murder followed a sex game taken to the extreme.
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