Female British student found naked with throat slit in Italy

 

By NICK PISA, BETH HALE and OLINKA KOSTER - More by this author » Last updated at 19:54pm on 2nd November 2007 Comments

A murder investigation was underway last night after a British student in Italy was found lying in her bedroom with her throat cut.

Meredith Kercher, a University of Leeds graduate who was on an exchange programme, was discovered semi-naked in a pool of blood, lying under a duvet.

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Meredith Kercher was found murdered in her own bed in Italy where she was on a student exchange programme

 

The 22-year-old, who attended public school in Croydon, had only been in the Umbrian city of Perugia for three months after completing her undergraduate degree course.

Her body was discovered in a locked room in the house she shared with three other female students close to the centre of the picturesque city in central Italy, 100 miles north of Rome and a popular destination for British students.

The tragedy was discovered yesterday afternoon by police.

The young woman had been to a party with friends on Thursday night at the local University for Foreigners, which specialises in Italian language courses for overseas students.

Her friends stayed out overnight and it is understood the grim discovery was only made after police were alerted to the girl's mobile phone lying in the nearby garden of an elderly woman.

A trace revealed Ms Kercher's name and address.

When police could get no answer they broke down the door of the house and a search of building led officers to the discovery in the girl's bedroom.

Last night the white washed house was surrounded by police as forensic scientists carried out a fingertip search of the building looking for clues.

A police source said the victim was found dead in her bedroom and officers were questioning her housemates as part of the investigation.

Attention appeared to be focusing on a window of the victim's bedroom as the door was locked from the inside.

Police had sealed off the area around the scene.

A police source said: "We know that the victim and her housemates had been to a party the night before and that she was the only one to return to the house.

"Her housemates spent the night elsewhere. We were called after a mobile phone was found in a garden and checks revealed it belonged to the victim.

"This was a particularly nasty murder and the victim was found with a deep cut to her throat."

Italian news reports said that the elderly woman who found the phone had also reported receiving a telephone threat from a mystery woman.

Last night a British Embassy spokesman in Rome said: "We are aware of the reports and our consular official in Florence is making her way to Perugia." Erasmus, the European student exchange programme, said it gave Ms Kercher funding to help her study.

"We have funded her but she was not on one of our programmes," a spokeswoman said.

The inquiry is being led by investigating magistrate Giuliano Mignini and a post mortem is due to be carried out by pathologist Luca Lalli - neither of who was available last night for comment.

The University for Foreigners - Università per Stranieri - was founded in 1921 and specialises in the teaching of Italian language and literature, the university is separate from much older University of Perugia.

Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria.

A notable artistic centre, the painter Pietro Vannucci, who was nicknamed Perugino and taught the great Renaissance artist Raphael, was a native of Perugia, as well as the architect Galeazzo Alessi.

thats terrible