Meredith Kercher’s family pay tribute on 15th anniversary of her death

The heartbroken family of Meredith Kercher has released an emotional tribute to her on the 15th anniversary of her murder – just days after photos of former suspects Amanda Knox and ex-lover Raffaele Sollecito smiling together at a reunion in Italy were labeled ‘ bad taste’.

Leeds University student Meredith, 21, was found lifeless on November 2, 2007 in her bedroom of the apartment she shared with Knox in the Italian town of Perugia.

The Kercher family has always kept a respectful silence after Meredith’s death and their statement revealed that parents John and Arline had passed away within weeks of each other in 2020.

In a tribute to Meredith, who was known by the nickname Mez, her surviving siblings said: “Every anniversary of Meredith’s death gives us a moment of reflection, but of course as with anyone who has lost a loved one – especially in such tragic circumstances.” – it doesn’t take an anniversary to remember them; it’s something you carry with you every day.

“Fifteen years have passed in the blink of an eye, yet we’ve lived a lifetime between them—something Meredith, sadly, never got.

The loss of both our parents within just four months of each other in early 2020 brought its own tragedy, but we can take some comfort in knowing that they are now united with Mez and no longer have to live with the grief that left them. consumed.

“Meredith will always be in our thoughts and forever in our hearts.”

Meredith’s parents Arline (center) and John (right) Kercher – who both died in 2020 – and her sister Stephanie (left) at a press conference in Perugia in November 2007

Amanda Knox, left, and her then-boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, after being named as suspects

Covid curbs had meant that little was known about the death of 74-year-old Arline, but she is believed to have died in a hospital in Carshalton, Surrey, during the early stages of the pandemic and is buried next to Meredith in the cemetery of Croydon, South London.

Brave Arline received much praise for her dignified handling of the aftermath of Meredith’s horrific murder, when she was stabbed and sexually assaulted while on an exchange student in Perugia, Italy.

Arline traveled to the country to identify her daughter’s body and vowed to fight for justice with her ex-husband and Meredith’s father John, even though they divorced in 1997.

Tragically, she never got the lockdown she wanted and questions have surfaced again after Rudy Guede, 34, who was convicted of Meredith’s murder, was released from prison after 13 years of a 30-year term, making the sharp suggestion that Knox ‘knows the truth and I know the truth’.

Supported by her two surviving devoted children, Arline rarely spoke of the family’s anguish, but once described it as a “nightmare,” insisting that “there are many unanswered questions that seem to have been ignored.”

Her death in May 2020 was four months after her ex-husband John, 77, passed away.

He was found in a road close to his home in Croydon, south London in January 2020 with two broken legs, a broken arm and a head injury, and died in hospital three weeks later.

At a later inquest, a coroner could not conclude whether he had died from a hit-and-run.

American Knox, 35, and computer engineer Sollecito, 38, were initially arrested and convicted twice for the brutal murder and spent four years in prison before finally being acquitted on appeal by the Italian Supreme Court for lack of evidence.

Amanda Knox (left), of Seattle, was twice wrongly convicted of Meredith’s murder and spent four years in prison and Raffaele Sollecito (right), 38, originally from Milan, was convicted along with his former lover.

Amanda Knox (pictured speaking in 2019, file photo) wrote an article called ‘Patrolling the Trolls: The Sorry State of Reporting Online Abuse’ – recalling the moment she received death threats in prison

Meredith Kercher’s murderer Rudy Guede (pictured waving from the window of a volunteer center in 2016, file photo) was formally released from prison 13 years after the horrific murder

Meredith, from Coulsdon, South London, was in Perugia as part of her university year abroad.

Knox and Sollecito met earlier this year in the town of Gubbio, the place they planned the day Meredith’s body was found. They hadn’t seen each other for ten years and called it a “bittersweet reunion.”

A source close to the family told MailOnline: “Of course they saw the photo of Knox and Sollecito together in Italy, but they don’t want to comment on it publicly because neither of them interest them – and they don’t want to add to it.” their media visibility.

What they have found astonishing is the timing of the decision to announce this reunion, [it] begs faith in terms of respect for Meredith.”

Knox and Sollecito were arrested four days after the murder and convicted along with Ivory Coast drifter Guede, whose bloody fingerprints and DNA were found at the scene.

He now works at a local library in Viterbo and has written a book called “The Benefit of the Doubt” and continues to maintain that he is innocent of Meredith’s murder.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, Guede said: “I was convicted of collaborating with Knox and Sollecito, but the judges said I did not materially commit the crime, so if they are innocent, who should I have been?” ? of ?’

Guede confirmed he was in the house at the time, adding: “I was there, I’m not denying it. I wasn’t in a corner. I was with Meredith and we kissed, we started having sex, but then I went to the bathroom, we didn’t have condoms.’

He has always insisted that when he came out, he fatally stabbed Meredith on the floor and found a man and a woman inside the house. Guede added:’ The man said, ‘Let’s go, they’ll find the Negro.’

Guede said, “What I will never forgive myself is not doing enough to save Meredith. There weren’t enough towels to soak up the blood, I panicked and ran. I will never forgive myself for this. I accept that I have behaved badly, but I am not a murderer.’

Detective tracked Guede to Germany after listening to Skype conversations he had with a friend in Italy and he was later extradited to face trial.