Amanda Knox free: Italian court closes the case for embattled American

Knox and her ex-boyfriend have been in legal fight for eight years

(Getty Images)

After almost eight years of legal strife, Italy’s highest court has overturned the murder convictions of American woman Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend in the 2007 killing of Ms Knox’s flat-mate in Perugia.

Ms Knox and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, initially were found guilty in 2009 of the murder and sexual assault of Meredith Kercher in 2007, but were both acquitted and released from prison in 2011 after serving four years, Fox News reported.

After her release, Ms Knox returned to her hometown of Seattle. But last year she was tried and convicted in absentia to 28-and-a-half years in prison.

Lawyers for the former couple made their final appeals on Friday, saying there had been errors of “colossal proportions” in the 2014 guilty verdict, according to Fox News. Court of Cassation judges began deliberations around noon and overturned the verdict on Friday night.

Had the conviction been upheld, Ms Knox could have faced extradition to Italy, a country to which she has said she would never voluntarily return.

Twitter exploded shortly after the court revealed its decision, mostly in support of Ms Knox.