Kerchers struggle to reach Italy as private jet stands by for Knox

But while the family, who are from Coulsdon in Surrey, are having difficulty getting plane tickets for the trial’s conclusion, Amanda Knox, who is behind bars for killing the 21-year-old, has a private jet waiting to fly her home to the United States if she is freed, Francesco Maresca told a court in Perugia.

Miss Kercher’s mother, Arline, sister Stephanie and one of her brothers are due to travel to the Italian city to hear whether the convictions of Knox and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, will be overturned. Mrs Kercher has been unable to attend so far due to ill health, while financial constraints have kept her children away, the court heard.

The jury is expected to retire on Monday to consider its verdict on an appeal that has lasted almost a year.

Yesterday Mr Maresca urged them to “confirm the truth,” by upholding the original guilty verdicts.

The unsubstantiated claim that Knox will fly out by private jet if her four-year spell in jail is ended next week has been used in court to dispel any sense of sympathy the jury might have for her as lawyers for each party exchange barbed interpretations of the reviewed evidence.

Seizing his final chance to ensure her conviction sticks, Mr Maresca yesterday poured scorn on Knox’s “false memory” in relation to the night the Leeds University student was stabbed to death.

Apparently referring to inconsistencies in Knox’s story during the early stages of the investigation, he said: “You might forget where you left your car, but not the sound of someone screaming.”

Another lawyer fighting to keep the University of Washington student behind bars said his client, a barman Knox falsely accused, suffers nightmares as a result of her slander.

Diya “Patrick” Lumumba still wakes each night with bad dreams after Knox pointed the finger at him during her police interrogation in 2007, Carlo Pacelli said.

The 24-year-old defendant insisted she did this under pressure from the police, but Mr Lumumba brought a civil action against her.

Knox, from Seattle, is supported in court by her parents Curt Knox and Edda Mellas. She listened intently to proceedings, her eyes fixed on the lawyer speaking, and occasionally taking notes.

The body of Miss Kercher, 21, was found on November 2 2007. She had been left partially covered by a duvet in her bedroom in the Perugia house she shared with Knox on her year abroad.

In 2009 Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison for the murder, which prosecutors claimed was the end in a bungled sex game.

She maintains she played no part in it and insists she was with her boyfriend, Sollecito, at his house, watching a film, smoking cannabis and having sex.

Prosecutors maintain that Sollecito’s DNA was on the clip of Miss Kercher’s bra as part of a mixture of evidence. A court-ordered review of evidence, carried out by independent experts, said the attribution could not be certain and highlighted the risk of contamination on the clip, which was collected from the crime scene 46 days after the murder.

The review significantly weakened the prosecution case.

Rudy Guede from the Ivory Coast was jailed for 30 years for the killing in separate proceedings from Knox’s and Sollecito’s, but his sentence was reduced to 16 years on appeal.

Knox’s lawyer, Maria del Grosso, insisted there was no forensic evidence that proved her client’s guilt and said that Guede had acted alone.