Amanda Knox defence costs near bankrupt family

Curt Knox said the family had "mortgaged their house, everything we own and blown our retirement funds" to cover the costs which he said were spiralling towards $1 million.

Knox, 21, and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25, are jointly accused of the brutal sex murder of 21-year-old Meredith, who was found semi naked and with her throat cut in the bedroom of the house they shared.

Speaking on the Italian news talk show Matrix yesterday, a visibly upset Mr Knox said: "This is costing us a lot of money. We are approaching seven digits. We have mortgaged everything, our retirement has gone, everything has gone.

"We will do all that it takes to get Amanda freed and we will worry about the finances later."

The Knox family have hired a PR consultant, David Marriott, in their home town of Seattle and also have two full-time lawyers Carlo Dalla Vedova and Luciano Ghirga.

Besides the legal team they have also had to pay for expert consultants to independently examine the DNA evidence against their daughter as well as pay for numerous trans Atlantic flights.

Mr Knox added: "She is absolutely innocent. She had nothing to do with this crime. She spent the night at her boyfriend Raffaele's house and it just happened that she was the first on the scene."

Mr Knox pointed to the fact that his daughter had remained in Italy after the murder and not fled - unlike third defendant Rudy Guede - who was extradited from Germany two weeks after the murder and jailed for 30 years last October.

"Once this other individual Rudy Guede had been brought back to Italy after escaping and all the physical evidence pointed at him being at the scene and I thought they would realise they had the wrong person.

"When this happened we asked her if she wanted to come home but she said she wanted to stay and help the police catch the person responsible for this terrible crime.

"When we go and visit her in prison we try and not focus on the trial but we talk about her family and her friends - we want her to know there is light at the end of the tunnel."

Mr Knox also blamed the media for portraying her daughter as a "dark angel". He said: "There has been so much media exposure and a lot of it has painted an inaccurate picture.

"She is just a regular college kid. She doesn't have a double personality. What happened at the beginning of this investigation was that a lot of things were taken from her webpage and taken out of context to support the prosecutions theory.

"Amanda is a loving, caring and loyal daughter - if you ever wanted someone to be your friend you would want Amanda. In prison people ask her if they can help her and she helps them out too."

Meanwhile it also emerged that top crime author John Grisham may base his next on the Meredith murder.

In an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa he said: "I would really like to write a book about this story.

"I am edging towards the possibility she (Amanda) is innocent, it's difficult for me to believe it could have been her even if there is evidence against her. It's just that she is a stupid girl."

The trial continues on Friday when Knox's mother Edda Mella - she has split from Mr Knox - is due to give evidence.