The American woman who is due to be re-tried for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007 has given her first TV interview.

Speaking to ABC News Amanda Knox has described the ordeal of the first trial and has promised to clear her name at the second hearing.

She told Diane Sawyer that while she had heard the gist of the things circulated about her they were all wrong.

"I was in the courtroom when they were calling me 'devil'. I mean, it's one thing to be called certain things in the media and then it's another thing to be sitting in a courtroom, fighting for your life, while people are calling you a devil" she said.

"For all intents and purposes, I was a murderer - whether I was or not. And I had to live with the idea that that would be my life".

She said everything she ever posted online, every boyfriend in her life, came back to haunt her. She says she wants the truth to come out.

"I'd like to be reconsidered as a person. What happened to me was surreal but it could've happened to anyone" she added.

Image: ABC News