I heard Meredith scream says girl in student sex murder

Murder suspect Amanda Knox, 20, pointed the finger of blame at another of the accused, Patrick Diya Lumumba. American born Knox said: “Patrick and Meredith were in Meredith’s bedroom while I stayed in the kitchen. “I can’t remember how long they were together in the bedroom but the only thing I can say is that at a certain point I remember hearing Meredith’s screams and I covered my ears. “I don’t remember anything else. There is a lot going on in my head.” 

Knox, a flatmate of 21-year-old Meredith in the Italian university town of Perugia, is said to have given a “partial confession” to detectives who believe the murdered girl was the victim of a sick sexual fantasy.

 But police believe Knox played a central role in the horrific murder in which Meredith’s throat was slit as she lay in bed. Police said during the confession she kept putting her hands on her head and shaking. A third suspect, Knox’s boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 24, is also being quizzed. 

Speaking about Sollecito, she added: “I’m not sure if Raffaele was there that night but I remember well that I woke up in my boyfriend’s house, in his bed, and that I went back to my house in the morning and found the door open.” 

A police source said last night: “We are getting a lot of conflicting stories from these people. We are letting them stew in their own juices but we will get to the truth.” Lumumba was heard shouting: “I haven’t done anything” as he was arrested. The suspects are being held separately in isolation at  Perugia prison. The three will appear before a magistrate at a private hearing in a prison court later today. 

Knox, from Seattle, Washington, refers to herself as ‘Foxy Knoxy’ in a blog on the networking site MySpace. Police are intrigued by a short story she wrote about the drugging and rape of a young woman. In another shocking admission to police Knox claimed Meredith was having sexual relations with Congolese born Lumumba. She said: “Lumumba wanted her. Yes we were in the house. 

That evening we wanted to have a bit of fun. We were drunk. We asked her to join us. “Diya wanted her. Raffaele and I went into another room and then I heard screams.” Knox continued: “I can’t remember if Meredith was screaming and if I heard thuds but I could imagine what was going on. 

“I want to tell you what happened because its left me really shocked and I am really scared of Patrick, the African guy who owns Le Chic (a bar popular with students) where I sometimes work.” She claimed the African bar owner later tried to intimidate her.  She told police: “I met Patrick on the morning of November 5th, he was in front of the University for Foreigners and he was asking me questions. 

“He wanted to know what I had told the police, he wanted to know if I wanted to talk to journalists so I could find out what was known about Meredith’s death.” Raffaele Sollecito admitted to police that he lied to them in the hours after Meredith’s death. He said:”I want to tell you that before I told a load of bollocks.” 

He told how Meredith’s body was discovered after Knox said she had found traces of blood in her flat.  “She told me that when she got home she had found the door open and traces of blood in the small bathroom. 

“She asked me if it seemed strange. I said to her it was and advised her to telephone her friends. “She told me that she had called flatmate Filomena while she could get no answer from Meredith.” He then accompanied his girlfriend to the flat. “She opened the door with the keys and I went in. I noticed that the door to Filomena’s bedroom was open and there was glass on the floor and the room was a mess. “Amanda’s door was open but it was all in order. Then I went towards Meredith’s door and I saw it was closed with a key. 

“Then I looked to see if it was true about what Amanda had told me about the blood in the bathroom and I noticed drops of blood on the sink while on the mat there was something strange, a sort of mixture of blood and water, while the rest of the bathroom was clean. “I remember asking myself what was going on and I went outside to try and climb up to Meredith’s window. “I then tried to break down the door but I couldn’t do it.  It was at that point I called my sister to ask for advice because she is a police officer. She told me to call the police.”

The murder of Meredith – a Leeds University student from Coulsden, south London - has resonated around Europe where thousands of young people take a year away from their home university to study abroad under the Erasmus exchange scheme. Yesterday Meredith’s family laid a note and a rose in memory of her beside a banner on the steps of Perugia cathedral. 

The note said: “Love you forever Meredith, all my love Dad xxx.”   Italian police believe Miss Kercher was killed because she refused to take part in violent sex. All of the suspects are being held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit manslaughter and conspiracy to commit sexual violence.

The apparent breakthrough in the case came after four days of intensive investigation following the discovery last Friday of Miss Kercher’s body in her bedroom at the house she shared with Knox.  Sources said they believed Lumumba, a married father of one, wielded the pen knife which was used to kill her. Police intend to charge all three with murder and with participation in an act of sexual violence. 

They believe Meredith struggled as she was forced to have sex with at least one of the men. Arturo de Felice, head of police in Perugia, said: “The motive appears sexual but Meredith was morally innocent. She was the victim, not a participant.” He added that the killing had not been premeditated. “Meredith was studying at university and there was a university atmosphere, free and open,” he said.

 “Lots of people came and went through her house and she was unfortunately at the crossroads when this group came together.” De Felice also confirmed the contents of the statements that had been published in Italian newspapers but refused to add any further detail. 

He said that the three had continually changed their stories and that things “just didn’t add up.” He explained:”Initially the American gave a version of events which we knew was not correct. “She buckled and made an admission of facts that we knew were correct and from that we were able to bring them in. 

“We have not interviewed them today, they are in prison in solitary confinement reflecting on what they have told us. “The investigation is continuing and we are gathering evidence still which will be presented at a hearing on Thursday.”  Knox’s mother, Edda Mellas, travelled to Perugia yesterday, where she had been planning to offer her daughter support after her roommate’s horrific murder. 

As she was in the air, she was told her daughter was now a suspect and was being held and questioned by police. It also emerged Ms Mellas was staying in accommodation provided by Perugia council.  Perugia council spokesman Paolo Occhiuto said:”The council has provided her with an apartment for the time that she is in the city. 

“We feel that it is only fair and civilised to offer her some hospitality while she is in Perugia, it is the human thing to do. “She was travelling to Perugia to be with her daughter and to give her comfort and support, obviously during that journey she was informed that her daughter had been held for this terrible crime.”  

It also emerged last night that Ms Mellas has hired one of the regions’s top criminal lawyers to represent her daughter who will appear before magistrates today.