Amanda Knox's family cry for jailed daughter on Oprah

1/2
12 April 2012

The family of Meredith Kercher's killer broke down in tears on US television as they insisted she was innocent.

Amanda Knox's parents Curt Knox and Edda Mellas sobbed as they told of their traumatic visits to their daughter in an Italian jail.

The couple, who are separated, also vowed to appeal against her conviction and claimed a "trial by media" led to the 22-year-old American being found guilty of the murder of British student Miss Kercher in Perugia in 2007.

"She's absolutely always maintained that she never had anything to do with it," Ms Mellas told talk show host Oprah Winfrey. "Meredith was her friend, they were great friends."

The family, from Seattle, allowed cameras into their home as they waited for one of their Saturday morning calls from Knox. When the phone rang they asked for filming to stop.

Appearing in Winfrey's studio, Knox's parents said although the 10-minute calls were usually upbeat, visits to the Italian jail where their daughter is serving her 26-year sentence were unpredictable.

"I had one visit where she cried in my arms for 45 minutes," Mr Knox said, choking back tears. "That particular circumstance was the worst."

Asked what was so terrible about that particular visit, he said: "Trying to explain to your daughter why she's in a prison when she's completely innocent."

Knox's sisters, 21-year-old Deanna, Ashley, 15, and Delaney, 11, also broke down.

"If I had one wish I would probably wish of her just coming home and that none of this has ever happened," Delaney sobbed. "For me it feels like the family should be everyone and not everybody's here, so there won't be a family until Amanda comes home." Deanna said: "My life has been put on hold."

In December last year Knox was convicted of stabbing Miss Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon, Surrey, to death after what started as a sex game. Her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 25, was found guilty of murder and sex assault and was jailed for 25 years.

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