© Irish IndependentAmanda Knox awaited the verdict in her trial in Italy last night
Knox and former lover Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.
Knox and Italian Sollecito (25) killed the 21-year-old Ms Kercher in what began as an extreme sex game and ended with Sollecito holding her down while Knox cut her throat with a six-inch kitchen knife.
They committed the killing in Perugia, Italy, with small-time drug dealer Rudy Guede, 22, who was jailed for murder and sexual violence last October for 30 years.
Knox bowed her head and burst into tears as the verdict was read out.
Her lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, put a comforting arm around her as she wept.
Her family held hands as they waited for the verdict. Their faces fell as they learnt of Knox's fate and her sister Deanna Knox wept uncontrollably
As Knox was led out of court a loud sob was heard.
Sollecito looked impassive while Miss Kercher's family appeared composed.
Prosecutors had said they wanted a life sentence for Knox, accused of masterminding the killing of Kercher, with whom she shared an apartment in the central Italian university town of Perugia.
The verdict came after several hours Both Knox and 25-year-old Rafaele Sollecito,, had protested their innocence.
"Now it's up to you," Knox told the court on Thursday in an emotional statement in which she said she was "afraid of having the mask of a murderer forced upon me".
Hearing
After a brief hearing yesterday in which the defence summed up its case, Knox and Sollecito were returned to the Perugia prison where they have spent the past two years to await the jury's decision.
Kercher (21), from Coulsdon in southeast England, was found semi-naked with her throat cut in the bedroom of her apartment in Perugia, where she was doing a year of overseas study.
DNA was found on her body from an Ivorian drifter with a prior criminal record, Rudy Guede, who was convicted in October 2008 and sentenced to 30 years in prison for her murder. Guede, arrested on the run in Germany, is appealing the verdict.
He has acknowledged being in the house at the time of the killing and having sex with Kercher, but pointed the finger at Sollecito and Knox, whom he said he heard arguing with the Briton, followed by a scream.
Prosecutors accused Knox, from Seattle, of convincing Guede and Sollecito to take part in an extreme sex game involving Kercher, which turned violent.
They say she resented Kercher's criticism of her lack of cleanliness and promiscuity. Knox said she and Sollecito had watched a film at his home that evening, smoked marijuana and had sex.
Sollecito said he was at his home but could not remember if Knox was also there."I fail to understand why I would have participated in this murder with no motive," Sollecito told the court.
Comment: What is clear is that this was a case of railroading.