Oggi magazine
Inappropriate: The glossy weekly Oggi gave away four black handled kitchen knives and a pizza slicer in the edition featuring a tearful Knox on the cover
An Italian magazine slammed by a prosecutor in the Amanda Knox case for biased backing of her has raised eyebrows after it gave away a set of knives in an issue featuring her on the cover.

The glossy weekly Oggi, which has a circulation of more than one million, gave away four black handled kitchen knives and a pizza slicer in the edition featuring a tearful Knox on the cover.

During the final stages of the dramatic appeal which saw her and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 27, cleared of murdering student Meredith Kercher, 21, who was found semi naked and with her throat slashed, prosecutor Giuliano Mignini criticised the magazine for its biased coverage of the case.

He said it had been entirely pro Knox and said that it was a result of the million dollar PR machine that her family had hired.

In the month leading up to the trial Oggi featured Knox on its cover three times along with pieces critical of the police investigation and the way the case had been handled by the prosecution.

The knives give away was hotly debated on the internet with many forums questioning the magazine's poor taste with many saying they had been 'surprised and shocked' at the decision to go ahead with the give away.

Amanda Knox
Free: Amanda Knox has been seen out and about several times she returned to Seattle
In Rome half a dozen newsagents questioned said they had 'sold out' of the knives although all questioned whether it was a good idea given the nature of the murder.

One news vendor by the Trevi Fountain, who refused to give her name, said: 'I was shocked when I saw the knives were a give away with Oggi and the magazine had Knox on the front cover.

'When you think that it was a very nasty murder with a knife to have knives given away is I think in very poor taste - although having said that we did sell out of all the ones we got.'

During the trial the court heard how a 30cm black handled kitchen knife - similar to the ones given away - had been found in Sollecito's apartment and which was said to have been 'compatible' as the murder weapon.

The judge and jury heard how DNA from Meredith had been found on the blade and that of Knox on the handle but these results were called into question by two court appointed independent experts.

They said the amount of Meredith's DNA was so tiny it should be ruled as inadmissible - although they did agree it was Knox's on the handle but she and her lawyers argued that she had used the knife for cooking.

Her lawyers also argued that it was too big to have caused the type of wounds found on Meredith's throat and that the murder weapon was smaller and the court agreed with them.

Despite several requests to Oggi no-one was available for comment while the Kercher family lawyer Francesco Maresca could also not be contacted.