On 1st November, 2007, British student Meredith Kercher was murdered in her rented house in Perugia. What followed was one of the most sensational and terrible public battles for justice in modern times, that saw Kercher's roommate, Amanda Knox, and Knox's Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, charged and found guilty of murder alongside local Rudy Guede.

Years of public appeals, extraditions and a trial by media eventually saw Knox and Raffaele acquitted, though the invasive and sexist nature of the press meant Knox stayed guilty in many people's mind, no matter the evidence.

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Meredith Kercher

This sadly eclipsed the tragic death of the young student, and many have continually taken umbrage with Knox's continued public role, as a journalist and advocate for those who have been wrongly convicted, particularly through false confession.

Ten years from Kercher's death, Knox wrote a tribute to the friend she knew on their year abroad in Italy.

She opens the tribute in the Westside Seattle:

'Ten years ago tonight, my friend was raped and murdered by a burglar when she was home alone in the apartment we shared while studying abroad in Perugia, Italy.'

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Amanda Knox in 2008

However, she states, this is not how she remembers her friend, saying:

'When I look back on my memories of Meredith, what I find are beautiful, banal moments we shared in the weeks we lived side-by-side.'

She goes onto detail tender moments between new friends, like vintage shopping and sunbathing.

The 30 year-old has been open about her own journey since her acquittal, and allowed an all-access Documentary last year exploring the trial and how it could have been manipulated,a s well as how her life has been affected by 'the trial of the century'. Whilst understanding Kercher as the murder victim, she has been clear that she was a victim of a harmful system wrongly convicting her.

[youtube ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NueLjUNB-GM&t=1s[/youtube]

She explains:

All these memories feel both very close and very distant. Distant, because I have to dig through a decade of suffering just to reach them. My memories of Meredith are buried beneath the horrific autopsy photos and crime scene footage I saw, the slurs I was called, the death threats I received (and still receive), the false accusations I fought, the years of wrongful imprisonment I endured, the multiple trials and slanderous headlines that juxtaposed our names and faces, unfairly interlocking her death with my identity.

The criticisms of Knox's article have flown in thick and fast, with a Daily Mail article title reading 'Foxy should just shut up' referencing her school nickname (due to her speed in sport) that got picked up by sexist press.

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Amanda Knox in 2015

Knox defends her right to pen her own tribute to her old friend, writing:

This day of mourning belongs to everyone whose lives Meredith touched. And certainly, there are many people who loved and knew Meredith far better than I did. But something Meredith's friends, family, supporters, and I all have in common is that Meredith's death changed our lives… I hate it that my memories of her are buried beneath the years of suffering Raffaele and I endured in the wake of her murder. And it's depressing to know that mourning her comes at the price of being criticised for anything I say or don't say today. But most depressing of all is that Meredith isn't here, when she deserves to be. She is painfully missed by everyone who loved her. I miss her, and I'm grateful for the memories of our time together.

Ten years on from Meredith's devastating death, hopefully her family and friend have found some peace in their memories of her.

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Daisy Murray
Digital Fashion Editor

Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.