Meredith Kercher's father hits out at 'celebrity' of Knox family

Appeal: Amanda Knox was found guilty of murder
12 April 2012

The father of murdered student Meredith Kercher has launched an impassioned attack on his daughter's killer and her "celebrity" status.

John Kercher hit out at Amanda Knox, saying her nickname Foxy Knoxy "trivialises" her offence, and criticised the "hold" the 23-year-old American has over the media.

He also said her parents Kurt Knox and Edda Mellas have still not expressed their condolences to Mr Kercher and his estranged wife Arline over Meredith's death.

It comes after Miss Knox's appeal against her 26-year sentence was adjourned until December 11 after a hearing in the Italian town of Perugia last week.

In a heartfelt article in the Daily Mail, Mr Kercher said: "Last week, Knox's parents were given star billing on the ITV breakfast show Daybreak, where they had free rein to profess their conviction that their daughter is not guilty.

"Kurt Knox and his ex-wife Edda Mellas have never expressed their condolences to our family for our grievous loss. There has been no letter of sympathy; no word of regret. Instead, I have watched them repeatedly reiterate the mantra of their daughter's innocence."

Mr Kercher also spoke of his fears that Knox's appeal could "drag on for months" and of the "dark tunnel" preventing him and his family from grieving for Meredith "in peace".

He added: "If Knox doesn't get the result she wants, our agony will be even more protracted: she may then take her case to Italy's Supreme Court in Rome. Put simply, our ordeal could go on for years."

He described his daughter as "a bright, sweet-natured and engaging young woman" who had travelled to Perugia to learn about its culture and improve her Italian.

He said: "On November 1, the third anniversary of her death, I gathered with the rest of the family in the cold, grey cemetery where she is buried. One by one, we laid bright flowers on her grave and left messages. Mine said simply, 'I miss you'."

Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 26, were jailed for 26 and 25 years respectively in December last year after being found guilty of killing Miss Kercher after what prosecutors said was a sex game that went too far. At Knox's appeal hearing last week Chris Mellas, who has moved to Italy to be close to his stepdaughter, said: "We have an amazingly strong appeal. It's been like waiting for Christmas trying to get this appeal going because she feels it's so strong that she will get out."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT