Amanda Knox is writing for a local newspaper in Seattle as a freelance reporter

The student, convicted of murdering her roommate in Italy, was released after an appeal and returned to the US as a fugitive

Amanda Knox during an emotional interview after an Italian court found her and Raffaele Sollecito guilty

Amanda Knox, the fugitive convicted of murdering her roommate in Italy in 2007 alongside her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, has started her life afresh with a surprising new career.

Knox spent four years in jail in Italy, but was released after an appeal and returned to the US.

The subject of high media scrutiny, her case was heard again before a supreme court in Italy last year, and she was sentenced to 28 years behind bars. However, Knox, originally from Seattle, maintains her innocence and has made steps to move on from the tragic event, as it remains unlikely she will ever be extradited.

Ironically, the creative writing graduate, who found unwanted fame in negative newspaper headlines, has taken up a freelance position on a local newspaper in her home city.

The 27-year-old has since penned 10 stories for the West Seattle Herald, first under a pseudonym but now using her real name, including a review of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by playwright Tom Stoppard.

“We approached her originally to give her the opportunity of a normal life,” her editor Patrick Robinson told The Daily Beast.

“We simply asked her as we would ask anyone of that age and stage, if they would be interested in writing for us as a qualified writer of that scale and this level of journalism.”

He added that the young scribe was “very bright” and “very capable”, and had “certainly been through a lot”.

Despite the high drama of the trial, he said he found her “very easy to work with” and “very interested and eager in doing stories” since she joined the press team on 17 October.

The written work will certainly be good practice – Knox signed a $4million book deal with Harper Collins in 2012 to tell her side of the case.