Kerchers seek clarity six years after murder
The family of Meredith Kercher, the British student murdered in Perugia in 2007, is gathering momentum for a trust fund set up in Meredith's name amid hope that the impending retrial of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito will give them clarity about how she died.
Almost six years on from the day she died, the Kercher family is still seeking answers about Meredith's death.
“Things are still not clear and there are a lot of things that need clarifying,” Stephanie Kercher, Meredith’s sister, told The Local.
Meredith was on a study year at Perugia's University for Foreigners as part of a degree course in politics and Italian when she was found dead in the house she shared with Knox on November 1st 2007.
Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Sollecito were found guilty of the murder in 2009, but acquitted on appeal in 2011.
But in March Italy’s Supreme Court overturned both acquittals and ordered a fresh appeals process. The first hearing will take place in Florence on September 30th.
As the retrial looms, the Kercher family, from south London, is seeking support for the Meredith Kercher Trust Fund, which was set up to help the family cover the costs of the case.
“We have so far to date paid for all our own legal fees, travel expenses, extra DNA forensics etcetera from our own savings and supported only by the generosity and kind donations of friends and the general public,” Stephanie said.
The fund cannot yet legally register as a charity as it is only focused on Meredith’s case, but her family hopes to eventually use it to help others in a similar situation.
A message on the website reads, “Meredith really did touch so many lives with her selfless compassion and loyalty to others and continues to do so now. Nothing was ever too much trouble for her, and she would go out of her way to please everyone and look after everyone.”
In his book published last year, Meredith's father John Kercher wrote that Italy had made a big impression on her during family holidays and so she chose to study Italian at senior school and then at the UK’s Leeds University.
He wrote the book, called Meredith: Our Daughter's Murder And The Heartbreaking Quest For The Truth, because it seemed that his daughter was "all but forgotten" with the spotlight focused so much on Knox and her high-profile court battle.
A scholarship fund was set up in Meredith’s memory by the city of Perugia and the University for Foreigners in Perugia, with the first scholarship awarded in June this year.
Meanwhile, Knox, 26, has decided not to return for the retrial, saying her stint in prison aged her by 40 years and she suffers from panic attacks and depression. Sollecito, 29, has been living in the Dominican Republic but his family has said he will attend court later on in the trial, which could last months.
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 prison for the crime.
Visit the Meredith Kercher Trust Fund here: www.themeredithkercherfund.com
John Kercher's book, Meredith: Our Daughter's Murder And The Heartbreaking Quest For The Truth, published by Hodder General Publishing Division, is available on www.amazon.co.uk.
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Almost six years on from the day she died, the Kercher family is still seeking answers about Meredith's death.
“Things are still not clear and there are a lot of things that need clarifying,” Stephanie Kercher, Meredith’s sister, told The Local.
Meredith was on a study year at Perugia's University for Foreigners as part of a degree course in politics and Italian when she was found dead in the house she shared with Knox on November 1st 2007.
Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Sollecito were found guilty of the murder in 2009, but acquitted on appeal in 2011.
But in March Italy’s Supreme Court overturned both acquittals and ordered a fresh appeals process. The first hearing will take place in Florence on September 30th.
As the retrial looms, the Kercher family, from south London, is seeking support for the Meredith Kercher Trust Fund, which was set up to help the family cover the costs of the case.
“We have so far to date paid for all our own legal fees, travel expenses, extra DNA forensics etcetera from our own savings and supported only by the generosity and kind donations of friends and the general public,” Stephanie said.
The fund cannot yet legally register as a charity as it is only focused on Meredith’s case, but her family hopes to eventually use it to help others in a similar situation.
A message on the website reads, “Meredith really did touch so many lives with her selfless compassion and loyalty to others and continues to do so now. Nothing was ever too much trouble for her, and she would go out of her way to please everyone and look after everyone.”
In his book published last year, Meredith's father John Kercher wrote that Italy had made a big impression on her during family holidays and so she chose to study Italian at senior school and then at the UK’s Leeds University.
He wrote the book, called Meredith: Our Daughter's Murder And The Heartbreaking Quest For The Truth, because it seemed that his daughter was "all but forgotten" with the spotlight focused so much on Knox and her high-profile court battle.
A scholarship fund was set up in Meredith’s memory by the city of Perugia and the University for Foreigners in Perugia, with the first scholarship awarded in June this year.
Meanwhile, Knox, 26, has decided not to return for the retrial, saying her stint in prison aged her by 40 years and she suffers from panic attacks and depression. Sollecito, 29, has been living in the Dominican Republic but his family has said he will attend court later on in the trial, which could last months.
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 prison for the crime.
Visit the Meredith Kercher Trust Fund here: www.themeredithkercherfund.com
John Kercher's book, Meredith: Our Daughter's Murder And The Heartbreaking Quest For The Truth, published by Hodder General Publishing Division, is available on www.amazon.co.uk.
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