Court clears Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito of murder

Amanda Knox says she now has her life back - and that she is lucky. She was reacting after a court in Rome cleared her of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher. Meredith's mother said she was "surprised and very shocked" at the verdict.

ITV News reporter Duncan Golestani has the latest:

Amanda Knox has spoken to the media outside her mother's home in Seattle following her acquittal for the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

Knox said she was "full of joy" and "grateful to have her life back".

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have had had their murder convictions overturned by Italy's highest court, bringing to an end their legal battle following the brutal death of British student Meredith Kercher.

Here is a timeline of the case:

2007

• November 2nd 2007: Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old exchange student from Coulsdon, Surrey, is discovered with her throat cut in her bedroom at her house in the Italian town of Perugia. Her body is partially clothed and under a duvet.
• November 6th: Police arrest Ms Kercher's American housemate Amanda Knox, then 20, Raffaele Sollecito, then 23, and Congolese Diya 'Patrick' Lumumba, who runs a local bar. The three are held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit manslaughter and sexual violence.
• November 19th: A fourth suspect is named as Rudy Hermann Guede, 20, from the Ivory Coast. He is thought to have left Perugia for Milan after Ms Kercher died.
• November 20th: Guede is arrested in the German city of Mainz. Lumumba is released without charge.
• November 22th: Guede admits being in Ms Kercher's house on the night of the murder but says an Italian man killed her.

2008

• September 9th 2008: Guede's lawyers say he will ask to be prosecuted separately from Knox and Sollecito in a fast track trial after talk of a possible pact between the former lovers to frame him.
• October 28th: After 11 hours of deliberation, Judge Micheli sentences Guede to 30 years for the murder of Ms Kercher. He also orders Knox and Sollecito to stand trial for murder and sexual violence. Judge Micheli later rules that the pair remain in prison while they await trial.

2009

• January 16th 2009: The trial of Knox and Sollecito begins.
• June 12th: Knox gives evidence in fluent Italian. She says she accused Lumumba "in confusion and under pressure" and that a police officer hit her during interrogation.
• December 4th: Knox and Sollecito found guilty of murder. Knox is sentenced to 26 years and Sollecito to 25.

2010

• November 24th 2010: Knox and Sollecito return to court in Perugia for their appeal.
• December 16th: Italy's highest criminal court upholds Guede's conviction and sentence, which was cut to 16 years in his first appeal.

2011

• June 27th 2011: Guede gives evidence for the prosecution in the appeal and confirms the contents of a letter he wrote to his lawyers in 2010, which included a direct accusation against Knox and Sollecito.
• July 25th: Experts tell the appeal court that forensic scientists who helped convict Knox made a series of errors. They claim evidence was tainted by the use of a dirty glove and failure to wear protective caps.
• October 3rd: Knox is freed from prison after being acquitted of killing Ms Kercher. Sollecito is also cleared.

2012

• February 16th 2012: Publisher HarperCollins announces it has signed a deal for a Knox memoir which was reportedly worth $2.5 million. The book, Waiting To Be Heard, is released in April 2013.

2013

• March 26th 2013: Italy's highest criminal court overturns the acquittals of Knox and Sollecito.
• September 30th: The third trial of Knox and Sollecito begins in Florence.
• December 17th: Knox declares her innocence in an email submitted to the appeal court in Florence by her lawyers before their closing arguments in which she says: "I didn't kill Meredith."

2014

• January 30th 2014: The pair are found guilty of the murder of Ms Kercher after judges in Florence overruled their previous acquittals. Knox is sentenced to 28-and-a-half years and Sollecito to 25 years.

2015

• March 25th 2015: Italy's high court hears Knox and Sollecito's appeal of the Florence conviction.
• March 27th: After lengthy legal arguments Italy's supreme Court of Cassation overturns the conviction and declines to order another trial. This is the final ruling in the case.

The mother of murdered British student Meredith Kercher has spoken of her shock after Italy's highest court overturned the convictions of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito.

Arline Kercher said she had heard little more about the decision other than the verdict.

Asked whether she had any plans following the ruling, she told the Press Association: "I really don't know at the moment, I haven't got any plans."

Ms Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in her bedroom in 2007 while studying in Perugia.

Tonight's decision by the supreme Court of Cassation is the final ruling in the case, ending the long legal battle waged by Ms Knox and her ex-boyfriend.

Amanda Knox has said she is "tremendously relieved" after being finally acquitted of the 2007 murder of her former British roommate Meredith Kercher.

The American student issued a statement after learning of Italy's top court's decision to overturn a lower court's guilty verdict handed down last year.

Her family also issued a statement thanking people for support during the lengthy legal battle.

Italy's highest court has acquitted Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old from Coulsdon, Surrey, was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in her bedroom in 2007 while studying in Perugia, Italy.

Her flatmate Knox and Knox's then-boyfriend Sollecito spent four years in jail for the murder but were acquitted on appeal in 2011.

Knox returned to the US before an appeal court threw out the acquittal and reinstated her and Sollecito's guilty verdicts last year.

Judges at the Supreme Court in Rome overturned the lower court's verdict and confirmed an acquittal for the pair, ending their long legal battle.

An Italian court's decision on whether to uphold the convictions of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher is due to be made today.

Italy's highest court had been expected to reach its decision on Wednesday but closing arguments took longer than expected.

Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old from Coulsdon, Surrey, was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in her bedroom in 2007 while studying in Perugia, Italy.

Her flatmate Knox, a student from Seattle in the US, and Knox's then-boyfriend Sollecito spent four years in jail for the murder but were acquitted on appeal in 2011.

Knox returned to the US before an appeal court threw out the acquittal and reinstated her and Sollecito's guilty verdicts last year.

Italy's Supreme Court in Rome must decide if it finally upholds those convictions.

A spokeswoman for the court said: "The public hearing will continue at 9am, when one of the lawyers of the appeal will intervene. The panel of judges will go into chambers and then deliver their verdicts."

Italy's highest court has cleared American Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend of the killing of Leeds University student Meredith Kercher .

Knox, 27, and her former partner Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted for the second time last year for murdering 21-year-old student Kercher, who was found stabbed to death in a house the women shared in Perugia, central Italy, in 2007.

But this evening the panel of judges at Rome's palace of Justices overturned the convictions and acquited the pair.