Italy’s highest  court has overturned the acquittal of Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend court thing they guily for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, and ordered a retrial./ Breaking News

Amanda Knox and her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, who were originally sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison for killing and sexually assaulting British student Meredith Kercher in 2007, were acquitted on appeal in 2011 after four years in prison.

Reacting to the court’s decision, Amanda Knox said it was “painful” to have the acquittal overturned and that she is “confident” in the truth.

Meredith  Kercher, 21, was found half-naked with her throat slashed in a pool of blood in her bedroom in the house that she shared with USA student Amanda Knox in Perugia November 2007.

The sister of the murdered Briton, Stephanie Kercher,  her family welcomed the ruling by the Italian court.

Speaking from Coulsdon in Surrey, the elder sibling said there were “still questions that are unanswered and we are all looking to find out the truth”.

“We welcome the decision that a retrial has been ordered and are pleased it is a step forward to finding an answer to some of those questions,” she added.

Amanda Knox, 25, returned home to Seattle immediately after her release. It is likely that she will be tried in absentia in the new trial, which will take place in Florence, because the United States does not normally extradite its citizens to face legal action.

A third person, Ivory Coast-born drifter Rudy Guede, who like the other two has always denied the murder, is the only person still in jail for the crime.

After choosing to undergo a separate, fast-track trial in 2008, he was found guilty of sexual assault and murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. This was reduced to 16 years on appeal.

The Kercher family insists that 47 knife wounds on Meredith and the apparent use of two different knives in the attack meant that more than one killer was involved, leaving the second murderer still at large.

The decision by the Court of Cassation adds a further twist to a long-running case where the initial handling was sharply criticised by independent forensic experts.

Knox had been scheduled to speak about the trial for the first time on American television in April, when her book about the case, named ‘Waiting To Be Heard’, is due to be released.

Sollecito, who turned 29 on Tuesday, is now living with his family near Bari in southern Italy.

[adrotate banner=”27″]