Foxy Knoxy threatened man with knife day before Meredith murder, says new witness

An Albanian has told police and prosecutors that Knox, 20, was with her boyfriend and fellow suspect Raffaele Sollecito, 24, when the terrifying incident took place.

He said that he was parking close to the house murder victim Meredith Kercher, 20, shared with Knox - who called herself Foxy Knoxy - when his car nudged a waste container.

He claims this provoked an argument with Knox, who eventually pulled a knife on him.

Police in Perugia are investigating the November 1 murder of Meredith, who was found semi-naked in a blood-spattered apartment, having apparently been the victim of a violent sexual assault.

The unidentified witness said: "I've only come forward now because I was scared.

"I spoke with a lawyer before coming to see you but in the end I realised it was important.

"The evening of 31st October I arrived in my car close to the house on Via della Pergola.

"As I was parking my car I hit a rubbish dumpster - a second later I saw two people, a man and a woman, who were behind it and they came towards me shouting.

"We started arguing and then all of a sudden the girl pulled out a knife, she was shouting at me and pointing it at me.

"I am certain it was Amanda Knox, with her was Raffaele Sollecito.

"Then out of the darkness emerged another man, it was Rudy, the three of them were together."

The sensational new evidence was being kept secret but was leaked and today prosecutor Giuliano Mignini said: "This is a very serious matter.

"This statement was a secret and now it is in the public domain. I am not prepared to say anything else about it."

Police sources however said that particulars of his statement including the fact it had been raining that night had already been checked and proved correct.

A source close to the investigation added: "He is a Albanian with a regular residents permit and he has no record.

"His story is being taken seriously as it proves that all three suspects knew each other.

"Knox and Sollecito have denied knowing Rudy but this man's statement puts them together and with a knife 24 hours before poor Meredith was murdered.

"It also suggests that the three were out there armed with a knife and already planning this murder when they were disturbed and it was put back a day.

"He is being taken as a serious and credible witness."

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Meredith, 21, from Coulsdon, Surrey was a student at Leeds University and had only been in Perugia for a little over two months as part of an exchange programme when she was murdered.

Knox and Sollecito were held four days after her body was discovered and have been held in prison since then along with Guede who was arrested in Germany two weeks later travelling on a train without a ticket.

Proecutors are also examinging the suggestion that Meredith may well have survived if emergency services had been called in time but instead her killers left her to die.

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Meanwhile it also emerged today that police are examining the theory that Meredith was murdered as part of a black magic ritual.

A police source said: "This suggestion is being looked at primarily because of the date that the murder took place November 1 which is All Saints Day and the following day is All Souls Day, the day of the Dead."

Last month a bizarre video of suspect Guede appeared on YouTube in which he said he was "a vampire who wanted to drink your blood".