Knox evidence aids defence

Lawyers appealing against the convictions of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for murdering British student Meredith Kercher claimed an important victory in court yesterday, as a key witness for the prosecution gave contradictory testimony.

Antonio Curatolo, a homeless drug addict living in Perugia, Italy, close to where Kercher was murdered, on November 1, 2007, claimed he saw Knox and Sollecito that night near the piazza where he lives.

Prosecutors believe that they then entered the house Knox shared with Kercher and fatally stabbed her during a sex game.

Curatolo's evidence in their trial helped persuade a jury to sentence Knox to 26 years and Sollecito to 25 years in prison.

At yesterday's appeal hearing, Curatolo, 54, referred to "young people in masks leaving for the nightclubs" even though the killing occurred a day after Perugia was filled with Halloween partygoers wearing masks and taking buses out to clubs.

On November 1 all the clubs were closed.