Video: Yorkshire student’s family ‘back to square one’ after Amanda Knox verdict

Lyle Kercher said it was “back to square one” in the search to find out what “truly happened” following the dramatic acquittal last night of Knox and Sollecito.

“While we accept the decision that was handed down yesterday and respect the court and the Italian justice system, we do find that we are now left obviously looking at this again and thinking how a decision that was so certain two years ago has been so emphatically over turned now,” he said.

He was speaking at a news conference in Perugia alongside his mother, Arline, and sister, Stephanie.

Mr Kercher said the decision last night raised further questions.

“There is, of course, a third defendant - Rudy Guede - who is convicted, has been appealed and has been upheld and, at the time, I understand the court agreed that he was not acting alone,” he said.

“Of course, if the two who were released yesterday were not the guilty parties, we are now obviously left wondering who is the other person or people, and really, for us, it feels very much almost like back to square one and the search goes on really to find out what truly happened.”

Mrs Kercher told the news conference that they were still “absorbing” the decision.

“We are still absorbing it. You think you have come to a decision and obviously it has been been overturned. I think it is very early days really,” she said.

She added: “What happened to my daughter, Meredith, is every parent’s nightmare.

“Of something so terrible happening, when basically she was in the safest place, her bedroom.”

She added: “Nobody is untouched by this.”

Mr Kercher said the family were grateful for support they received from well-wishers the world over - both Italians and Americans.

He described as “nonsense” suggestions of a divide between Britain, America and Italy over the crime.

He said the family had no criticism of the Italian system - “We have full faith in it,” he said.

The Kerchers were speaking after American Knox, 24, and Italian Sollecito, 27, were dramatically freed from prison last night following a successful appeal against their convictions.

The former lovers were found guilty in 2009 of killing the British student after forcing her into a violent sex game.

Miss Kercher’s semi-naked body was found on November 2 2007 in her bedroom in the house she shared with Knox during her year abroad in the Italian city.

Knox was sentenced to 26 years behind bars and Sollecito 25.

But today Knox was flying home to Seattle from Rome via London’s Heathrow Airport.

The family of Miss Kercher, from Coulsdon in Surrey, will also return home to the UK today.

Displaying their usual calm and dignity in the face of the pain they have suffered, they stressed it was still too early to say what action they might take next.

But they suggested their fight for justice would continue.

Mrs Kercher said: “It’s early days really.”

Prosecutors are understood to be planning an appeal against the acquittals and Mr Kercher pledged the family’s full support in the event that they do.

Extradition of Knox back to Italy from the US is thought to be highly unlikely, however.

But Mr Kercher referred nonetheless to a “further stage” in 12 or 15 months’ time, arguing that reconciliation or dialogue with Knox and Sollecito in the meantime “would seem strange, perhaps”.

Stephanie added: “(Yesterday’s) decision is one we need to accept and respect for now.”

Stephanie Kercher went on: “It may be a case of waiting another year now to get the truth and we can’t decide that, we have to leave that to the police, the forensics and the courts.”

The family’s pain had already been prolonged over four years, Mr Kercher said, and the “brutal circumstances” of his young sister’s death made it “incredibly difficult” for them.

It was Mrs Kercher who came closest to expressing sympathy for Knox and Sollecito, who were imprisoned for so long for a crime they insisted they played no part in.

“I don’t think anyone’s going to get off scot-free,” she said. “Their lives have been disrupted.”

She added that “no-one is untouched by this” and admitted she could appreciate why Knox would feel she had lost her life over the last few years.

The acquittals were greeted with angry cries of “shame” by the huge crowd massed outside the Perugia courthouse last night.

And lawyers for the defendants were booed as they appeared outside following their triumph in the 11-month judicial battle.

Knox was told she must pay 22,000 euro (£18,792) in compensation to Diya “Patrick” Lumumba, a barman she falsely accused of the murder.

And although she was acquitted of the killing, her conviction for slandering Mr Lumumba was upheld.

She was given a three-year prison sentence for this, all of which she has already served.

The next move by the young woman whose face is now internationally recognised remains to be seen, but she is known to have been penning her memoirs in prison.

Rumours of million-dollar bids for her first television interview have also been rife.

Conservative Richard Ottaway, the Kercher family’s MP, said he accepted the court’s verdict.

He added: “I would like to pay tribute to the quiet dignity of the Kercher family.

“They thought they had closure on this ghastly incident and they don’t and it has been a very stressful time for them. I hope that, in all the furore over this, they are not forgotten.

“I think it is important that we accept the machinery of justice in Italy. It may not have been conducted in the way that we would expect here. It looks very much the police inquiry may not have been to the standards we expect here, but in the end a verdict has been reached and we have to accept that.”

Prime Minister David Cameron said his thoughts were with the Kercher family.

He said: “I think all of us should be thinking of them.

“Obviously there is somebody in prison for the murder still, but one can’t help but think of the difficult time they will be going through.”