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Not guilty? US crime writer Douglas Preston believes that Amanda Knox and Raff aele Sollecito played no part in the murder of Meredith Kercher. Here he explains why ne fi ne day in 2006, as demanded I confess to these crimes and I was strolling down the said that if I did not, he would indict me streets of Florence, my for reticenza, reticence, a form of perjury. mobile rang. “This is the When I refused to confess to these Opolice,” a voice said in ludicrous and patently false accusations, Italian. “Where are you? he removed a tome from his bookshelf We are coming to get you.” and, in a stentorian voice, indicted me Thus began my little adventure on the spot, reading out the charges with the Italian criminal justice system. as a stenographer wrote it all down. I had been living in Italy and working He said the indictments would be lifted Knox (above) was Italy, I learned important information When the murder of Kercher occurred in the murder. The Italians are expert a video tape, audio tape or a transcript on a book with the Italian journalist to allow me to leave the country, but jailed for 26 years about the case, some of which never in November 2007, Mignini, under the interrogators; they have many psycho- of the interrogation, despite many Mario Spezi, about a serial killer known they would be reinstated later. I took last Friday; appeared in the press. In my view, shadow of the charges against him, was logical tricks; they routinely break down demands from the defence. At fi rst they as the “Monster of Florence”. Over a the hint and left Italy with my family Sollecito (below) much of the press, British and nevertheless assigned to the case as the mafi a bosses. She was interrogated all said they had lost the tape; later they period of 11 years, the Monster had the next day. received 25 years American, has misunderstood chief prosecutor. He accepted the night. According to Knox, the police said there was no tape: they had failed ritually murdered 14 young people My co-author, Spezi, fared far worse: Photographs: the dynamics of this case. responsibility with great vigour. told her they had proof she was at the to record the interrogation. Nor did they making love in the hills of Florence. two months later, Mignini ordered his Max Rossi/ When Mignini was in charge of a Knox’s role in this story begins in a scene of the crime; they screamed at have a transcript. Indeed, no record of The investigation had become one of arrest and accused him of involvement Reuters; branch of the Monster of Florence pizzeria a few days after Kercher’s her; they said her boyfriend (who was this interrogation apparently exists in the longest and most expensive in in the Monster of Florence murders. Getty Images investigation , allegations about his murder. Knox had attracted the being interrogated at the same time) any form. (Knox and her parents are Italian history, with more than 100,000 Spezi spent more than three weeks in conduct were made. As a result, in attention of investigators with her had implicated her; they struck her on being prosecuted for libelling the police men investigated. The real Monster prison until an internationaltiona outcry 2006 he was indicted for abuse of offi ce, odd behaviour following the murder, the back of the head when she didn’t by claiming she was struck.) had never been caught, although many forced his release. iillegally wiretapping journalists, especially when they saw her kissing remember a fact; and they suggested to What we do have are the two state- innocent people were jailed along the A year later, this samee prosecuprosecu- tthreatening and harassing news and cuddling with her boyfriend at the her the name of the killer (Patrick ments she signed. I have read those way. In our book, Spezi and I criticised tor arrested Amanda Knoxnox and herer organisations that criticised him, and scene of the crime. The clincher came Lumumba). They repeatedly asked her statements. They are written in perfect, a powerful prosecutor in the Monster boyfriend, Raff aele Sollecito,lecito, fofor obstruction of justice. The Florentine when a senior police offi cer saw Knox to close her eyes and imagine how the Mignini, idiomatic, bureaucratic, “police jargon” case named Giuliano Mignini. the murder of Knox’s fl atmateatmate, prosecutor assigned to his case, Luca nonchalantly eating pizza a few days murder might have occurred. After under the Italian. It is diffi cult to imagine that After that phone call, I was required Meredith Kercher. Becauseuse oof my Turco, said in court that Mignini had later. He told the American investigator many hours of this, she had a “vision” a foreign student, who had been in to appear before Mignini, where he and previous run-in with Mignini,ignini, fallen “prey to a sort of delirium” and Paul Ciolino: “I knew she was guilty of being in the apartment at the time of shadow of Italy for just two months, would have several policemen interrogated me for I took a deep interest in the case; was “a person ready to go to any when I saw she was eating pizza . If it the murder, covering her ears to block the charges understood what those statements almost three hours, in Italian, with no I read many of the originalina extreme defending himself from those were me, I’d still be in bed crying.” out the victim’s screams. She signed against said, let alone made them herself. interpreter and no access to a lawyer. reports and perused thee who would criticise his investi gation”. Knox was asked to come to the police two statements to that eff ect. him, was The morning following the During the interrogation, Mignini forensic and DNA labora- These were serious crimes and prose- station for questioning. While waiting What really happened in that nevertheless interrogation, a huge press conference accused me of several serious crimes, tory results; I reviewed cutors asked for a 10-month prison to be questioned, her odd behaviour interro gation? Did the police strike her, assigned to was held. The chief of police, Arturo De including planting a gun as false the videos showing ssentence. For his part, Mignini has continued – the Italian press reported pressure her, scream at her, lie to her, the Knox Felice, announced to great fanfare that evidence to mislead police, obstruction the collection of steadfastly denied the charges. Never- that she did cartwheels. (She says she coerce and threaten her? The police the killers had been identifi ed. He of justice, and being an accessory to evidence at the crime ttheless, his trial proceeded in the usual was doing yoga.) By the time the inter- and prosecutors have consistently case as declared the case “substantially closed”. murder. He hinted that I might have scene. Through Spezi slow Italian fashion; the verdict has not rogation began, her behaviour had led denied that any of this occurred. The the chief They were Knox, her boyfriend, had doings with a satanic cult. He and other contacts in yet been announced. police to suspect she had been involved police, however, have never produced prosecutor and the man she implicated, → Lumumba. Not long afterwards, it ← has been reported, a photograph of Knox was mounted on the wall of police headquarters in Rome, next to pictures of famous Italian criminals, Red Brigade terrorists, mafi osi and serial killers. The “case closed” announcement proved to be embarrassingly premature. The crime scene had not been analysed. When the analyses did start to roll in, it was discovered that an unknown person’s DNA, blood and fi ngerprints were all over the crime scene, on the victim, inside her vagina, inside her purse, and elsewhere in the house. A handprint, in the victim’s blood, was found underneath the body – a hand- print that did not belong to any of the three accused. They soon identifi ed this fourth person as Rudy Guede, a drifter, small-time drug dealer and harasser of girls, who had fl ed Perugia on the night of the murder. He was captured in The prosecutor: damning evidence against Knox Germany and brought back to Italy. Giuliano Mignini and Sollecito. On the other hand, no DNA belonging talks to the press The prosecutors presented this to Knox or Sollecito was found anywhere (above); the mountain of evidence at the trial, in the room or on the body. victim: Meredith which lasted almost a year. Knox’s and Suddenly, it appeared that the Kercher (below) Sollecito’s lawyers patiently chipped authorities might have made a terrible Photographs: away at it and, in the end, felt they mistake, arresting three innocent Reuters; PA had utterly demolished it – every people. They freed Lumumba (who had pebble of it. Step by step, with sober, an airtight alibi) and concentrated on expert testimony and documentation, proving that Guede, Knox and Sollecito their lawyers sought to destroy the had committed the murder together. prosecution’s case. Why was so little They already had Knox’s quasi- of this refutation reported in the press? confession. Now they needed hard The details were highly complex, evidence to back it up. involving matters of science, organic With Knox and Sollecito locked up, chemistry and forensic technique. It the police threw all their resources into did not lend itself to soundbites and retroactively gathering the evidence to dramatic revelations. Nevertheless, in prove them guilty. Many months and the end, the defence team believed enormous sums of money were devoted they had successfully shown that no to collecting this evidence, fi nding reliable evidence existed – absolutely witnesses, and searching the crime none – that placed Knox or Sollecito scene again and again until they found at the scene of the crime.

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