A bloodbath ... the crime scene where Meredith Kercher was murdered
From NICK FRANCIS in Perugia, Italy
Published: Today
BRITISH student Meredith Kercher was murdered in a brutal fight with her flatmates which was then made to look like a random sex attack, according to a top forensics expert.
Expert ... Luciano Garofano
In December last year, Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty of sexual assault and the murder in Perugia, Italy.
They were sentenced to 26 and 25 years, respectively.
However, in an appeal launched today, the pair will claim the third suspect in the case - Ivory Coast-born waiter Rudy Guede, 23, who was sentenced to 30 years but had it reduced to 16 on appeal - acted alone and killed Meredith, 21, during a burglary which turned into a sex attack.
But retired DNA expert Luciano Garofano believes neither American "Foxy Knoxy" nor the Italian courts have got the story completely right.
Murdered ... Surrey student Meredith Kercher, 21
Garofano told The Sun last night: "The scene was deliberately made to look like a rape after Meredith was killed.
"Her bra was found ripped off, but when the blood spray from her slashed throat was analysed, it showed it sprayed in a very neat V shape across her cleavage.
"It was not on the whole of her breasts, as it would have been if she was naked."
Garofano, 56, once advised the UN on where war crimes had been committed during the Bosnian war. If there was a CSI series set in Italy, it would be based on the work of this man.
Garofano has more than 32 years of forensics experience and used to work for Italy's elite Carabinieri police. He is also a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.
Despite having no official involvement in the Kercher case, Garofano has spent the past three years poring over all the evidence - from police reports to court files - including information not disclosed in court.
Guilty plea ... Rudy Guede
He took a special interest in the case as it occurred on "his patch". Crucially, Garofano would have been head of the case had the Carabinieri received the emergency call, but the Polizia took it. Under Italian law, whichever force answers the initial call sees the case through.
In court, prosecutors said Londoner Meredith's bra was ripped by Knox, 23, and Sollecito, 26, while he raped her, and her semi-naked body was proof of a sex game gone wrong.
But Garofano insists: "I believe Meredith was killed as a result of a fight, not rape. If we look at the photo of the crime scene you can see the top left corner of the room is not covered in blood.
"Yet to the left of the corner, blood has been sprayed up the white door of the wardrobe. They are droplets, not spurts of blood.
"This shows that Meredith's killers were in front of her when they made the stab, as the artery would have spurted outwards - the blood spurt went on the attackers.
"Meredith's head had a bruise on the back of it. This is where she was pushed against a wall.
"The inside of Meredith's leg was also bruised. This is consistent with a karate move she may have pulled off in an act of defence.
Heading back to court ... American student Amanda Knox is appealing her murder conviction
"We know Meredith was a karate expert. Meredith then probably hit Knox. I say this because drops of Knox's blood were found at the crime scene, consistent with a nose bleed.
"Someone then restrains Meredith, maybe Knox, maybe Sollecito. While one restrains, the other stabs Meredith in the neck.
Boyfriend ... Raffaele Sollecito is also
appealing his murder conviction
appealing his murder conviction
"Blood spurts over the attackers, which is why the wall is clean, but then Meredith slumps to her knees. We see blood spray across the white cupboard at kneeling height, where Meredith is breathing out the blood that has welled up in her lungs.
"A little to the left you will notice a pool of blood. Meredith was probably lying down by this point and bleeding heavily.
"She was then moved and continued to cough blood, which has sprayed on to the outside of the wardrobe and on to her chest.
"Meredith bled to death in a lot of pain. The attack was very quick and happened in a small area. The rest of the room is not disturbed. Her bedside table has a glass of water untouched and a letter perched. If the fight had been prolonged these things would have moved.
"That is why the idea of rape is far-fetched. Rape would have taken a long time and Meredith could have put up a fight. There is also too little DNA evidence to suggest she had been raped."
Garofano also explains the involvement of Rudy Guede. He was a mutual friend of Knox and Meredith and may have been in a relationship with the victim.
Garofano says: "Guede said he was sitting on the toilet when he heard the attack. There is evidence he was in the loo.
"Someone at some point attempts to stem the bleeding from Meredith's neck with a wedge of white towels.
House of horrors ... the building in the Italian city of Perugia where Meredith was brutally murdered
"Guede claims this was him and there is no reason to doubt that. But Guede then helped make the scene look like a break-in and rape."
Finally, Garofano reveals how Meredith's killers botched their attempts to cover up the murder.
He says: "The rock 'thrown' through the window is too big to have fitted through the gap.
"We also see that the glass of the smashed window falls all over the ransacked objects in the room. Yet Knox and Sollecito claim the window was broken by an intruder, allowing the intruder to climb inside and ransack the room, as well as rape and kill Meredith.
Staged ... rock that smashed window 'would not fit the gap'
"If this was the case, the glass would be underneath the other mess. The window was smashed after the room was messed up.
"The terrible events leading to Meredith's death were committed by people already inside.
"I believe the police have prosecuted and convicted the right people, even if they got some of the details wrong."
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3243013/Italian-DNA-expert-gives-his-verdict-on-the-murder-of-Meredith-Kercher.html#ixzz16BG38zJ7
