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Amanda Knox tells court of last time she saw Meredith
Nick Pisa in Perugia and Terry Kirby12 Jun 2009
Murder suspect Amanda Knox told an Italian court today that the last time she saw British student Meredith Kercher was the day before her death.
Knox, 21, who is accused of killing the Briton when she refused to take part in a sex game, was giving evidence for the first time in the trial in Perugia. She said: "I was at home. It was the morning after Halloween.
"I was studying. I thought Meredith was out because the door to her room was shut. Then she walked in and she had all make up on her face still from the Halloween party - she had dressed as a vampire.
"Then she went out and said 'Ciao'. It was the last time I saw her."
Knox and her then boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25, are accused of the murder of Miss Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon in Surrey, who was stabbed to death in November 2007.
Knox also told the court how Italian police broke down the door of Miss Kercher's bedroom in the house they shared to discover her body.
Under questioning, Knox told the court that she and Miss Kercher, a Leeds University student studying in Perugia, had got on "fine".
Knox was also a student, on an exchange programme from the University of Washington.
She also described events on the day Miss Kercher's body was found, when she had returned to her house and discovered the front door open.
She told the court: "I thought that was a bit strange. We all usually closed it with a key. When I walked in I shouted out 'Is anyone here ?' and I closed the door but didn't lock it.
"I thought maybe someone had just popped out to take the rubbish or go and get something, I thought maybe they were coming back soon, so I didn't lock it.
"I went into the bathroom. I was checking my piercings (in my ears) and I noticed the drops of blood by the sink - I scratched at them and saw they were dry. I thought that was odd as well.
"I took a shower and when I came out that's when I saw the blood stain on the bathmat - I thought it was strange and that maybe someone had had a menstrual problem.
"Then I also noticed there was faeces in the toilet and I thought that was strange as well - the girls were always very clean people.
"I didn't know what to do. I called Meredith and there was no answer, then I called Filomena (Romanelli, flatmate) and she said Laura (Mezzetti, flatmate) was in Rome, maybe there had been a break in. But all our stuff was there, my computer and the TV."
Knox, who described herself as "Foxy Knoxy" on her webpage, then described how she went back to Sollecito's house, where she had spent the previous evening, and returned with him.
This time they also checked Filomena's room and saw the window had been broken.
Knox said: "For me this was really strange - I didn't know who to call and Raffaele said 'let's call my sister, she is a carabinieri'.''
"So we did and at that point two plain clothes police officers arrived and I told them in a mix of Italian and English that the door of the house was open and that Meredith's was shut."
She added: "The door was broken down and I heard Filomena shouting 'a foot, a foot'. I thought at first she meant it was just a foot in the room.
"Then the police told us all to get out. I didn't actually see into the room. I was a little way away, by the door.
"Then I called my mum and said I didn't know what was going on."
The trial continues.
