AMERICAN student Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito have been found guilty of the murder and sexual assault of British woman Meredith Kercher.
A court in Perugia, Italy, sentenced Knox to 26 years' imprisonment and Sollecito was given a 25-year sentence, Sky News reported.
The semi-naked body of 21-year-old Kercher was found in a pool of blood with her throat slit in her room in Perugia in November 2007.
Both Knox, 22, and Sollecito, 25, had maintained their innocence throughout the trial.
Prosecutors said Kercher, who was studying at Leeds University, was stabbed to death in an extreme sex game.
They presented DNA and other forensic evidence against Knox, Sollecito and a third person, Rudy Guede of Ivory Coast, who was convicted separately after opting for a "fast-track" trial in exchange for clemency. He is appealing the sentence.
The prosecution alleged the three youths were high on drugs when they tried to engage Kercher, 21, in a sex game that turned violent, leaving her dead with stab wounds to the neck.
Knox addressed the jury in Italian on Thursday, saying she feared "having the mask of a killer forced onto my skin".
She said she was "confident my conscience is clean".
Sollecito also addressed the court on Thursday and said no motive had emerged for his alleged role in the murder.
Knox's family issued a statement saying they planned to appeal the verdict.
"We will continue to fight for her freedom," the statement said.
Knox’s aunt, Janet Huff, said she also expected the US Government to get involved in the case following the guilty verdict.
"They are involved. They have been involved since the beginning," Ms Huff told CNN in Perugia.
"We've been receiving emails from government officials saying now it's time to do something," Ms Huff said, without naming the US officials or describing how they would step in.
"The mantra we keep hearing from everyone - we've been promised over and over again - had it come to this verdict, they would have been involved."
Ms Huff said she was at home watching the news with relatives, friends and reporters and that "everyone fell apart" when the verdict was released.
"We are just crushed," she said, adding that the family was preparing for an extended stay in Italy in order to follow the appeals process to its conclusion. The process, she said, could take up to two years.
Amanda Knox guilty of Meredith Kercher sex game murder | News.com.au
