Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have been acquitted on appeal of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old from Coulsdon, Surrey, was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in Perugia in 2007.

Her flatmate Knox, a student from Seattle in the US, and Knox's then-boyfriend Sollecito spent four years in jail for the murder but were acquitted on appeal in 2011.

Knox returned to the US before an appeal court threw out the acquittal and reinstated her and Sollecito's guilty verdicts last year.

But the eight-year legal saga could now be at an end after both convictions were annulled by Italy's Supreme Court.

Knox, who remained in Seattle throughout the appeal, was said to be "overjoyed" by the decision.

Her representative said: "The truth has won out."

The judges, after 10 hours of deliberation, concluded that a conviction could not be supported by the evidence.

Their reasoning will be released within 90 days.