Police hunt student killer in Italy

Meredith Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon, south London, was was stabbed in the neck, likely with a knife, in her bedroom in the idyllic central Italian city of Perugia, said Italian coroner Luca Lalli.

Her partially-clothed body was discovered under a duvet early on Friday afternoon at a house in the Viale Sant'Antonio, not far from the city centre. The coroner ruled out earlier reports that the student had been stabbed with a screwdriver.

Police sealed off the apartment while a specialist forensic team scoured the scene. Reports said officers were also due to meet Miss Kercher's parents.

Meredith's father, John, said he was flying out "as soon as possible".

Reports said he made desperate attempts to contact his daughter on her mobile after hearing a British student was dead in Italy.

He told the Daily Mirror: "I rang Meredith to make sure she was safe but her phone was turned off. I must have tried 15 to 20 times."

"I was clinging to hope that it was another Meredith or even that they had got the name wrong. But I have been told she was identified by one of her flatmates.

"Now I will have to go out there and identify her as her father. I can't bear to think about it."

Detectives were looking for the murder weapon, possibly a knife, the Italian news agency Ansa reported.