Flashback: Patrick Lumumba (centre) was arrested and detained for two weeks after Amanda Knox told police he was the killer
Patrick Lumumba, 38, was arrested and spent two weeks in prison after Knox told detectives she 'had covered my ears in the kitchen' while 'Patrick killed Meredith'.
However, the claim was false and Italian prosecutors alleged Knox had made it to throw suspicion off herself.
Speaking in a telephone interview with MailOnline from Poland, Mr Lumumba said: 'I feel so angry. When I heard the verdict I was shocked for poor Meredith. I have always said that Amanda is a fantastic actress and that's what she will always be for me.
'I spent two weeks in jail for something I didn't do because Amanda said I was the killer. I will never forget when the police banged on my door and took me away.
'Meredith was the first victim in all this and I was the second. Because of what she said I lost my livelihood, I lost my job and now I have nothing - just my family, which is the most important thing for me'
Knox, 24, and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 27, were cleared last week of murdering and sexually assaulting Meredith in Perugia in November 2007, but she was found guilty of slandering Mr Lumumba.
Convincing: Mr Lumumba said that Knox is capable of putting on an act
Before he was arrested in November 2007, Patrick ran a successful bar called Le Chic - which was popular with students and where Knox secured a job handing out flyers and getting customers in.
The night of the murder Knox had been due to work but it was a quiet Bank Holiday in Italy and Patrick had sent her a text saying not to bother coming in, adding: 'See you later.'
Italian police took this innocuous goodbye as a sign they had arranged a definite meeting, and when Knox gave them his name they immediately raced to his house and arrested him.
Knox said she had given them his name after a 14-hour interrogation and also claimed that she had been hit twice by police - a claim they deny and which has cost her a charge of slander.
Mr Lumumba said: 'One thing I could never understand is that Amanda has always said she was given a rough time by the police. But I was named as the one who killed Meredith, the black third-world African, and they never gave me any problems.
'I do find that very strange, and I also find it amazing that she has never actually said sorry to me - when we were questioned she didn't even tell the police that I had nothing to do with it.'
Mr Lumumba was eventually released after a Swiss professor came forward to say he could not have been the killer, as he had been a customer in the bar the night of the murder.
He added: 'What I also find upsetting is when I see the prison chaplain supporting Amanda, and saying she is innocent. But he has never encouraged her to say sorry to me, and the Church teaches forgiveness.
'That is fundamental to me - the fact that she has never apologised to me in person, and I can't understand that.
Family man: Mr Lumumba, pictured here with his Polish partner and son, says he has lost everything as a result of the false allegations
'Her lies did not just affect me they also affected my family, as after my arrest my business faltered because - even though I was cleared - customers never came as a result of the bad publicity.
'That meant I had to close the bar and lay off staff, and now I have no job apart from a few nights here and there DJ-ing.'
Mr Lumumba, currently staying with his wife Alexandra Beata in her home country of Poland, added: 'As far as I was concerned the tears we saw from Amanda in court were always crocodile tears - it was a defensive strategy.
'She could have told them in those two weeks that I had nothing to do with this, but she didn't. She could have clarified everything but she never, never said anything.'
Mr Lumumba is pursuing damages against Knox but any final figure will not be sorted out until after the third and final appeal which will be heard at the Supreme Court in Rome late next year.
Knox has not been seen in public since arriving back in the United States and giving a press conference.
Questions about the professionalism of forensic officers in the case have emerged after they were heard joking on a crime scene video about taking cocaine to stay awake.
The tape was shown to the court during the appeal and at the original trial but with no audio - until it was played on Italian TV.
The family of Raffaele Sollecito have said they are willing to help the Kerchers to find the 'real killers' of the British student.
Sollecito's father, urologist Francesco, tried to approach the Kercher family at the end of the dramatic hearing to offer them his condolences but he had been unable to get anywhere near them.
Speaking from his home near Bari, he said: 'The Kercher family lost their poor Meredith in a horrible and terrifying way. No-one will ever understand the pain and agony they are going through.
'I tried to speak with them after the hearing but it wasn't possible and I understand that but what I want them to know is that we are willing to help them find the truth and offer whatever we can to them. We feel for their tragedy.'
Unlike Knox who gave a press conference when she returned to her home in Seattle, computer studies graduate Sollecito has remained out of the public eye and has not left his home since he was released from jail last week.
Mr Sollecito also revealed that his son had received numerous offers to tell his story but they had not decided what to do. He also said that unlike the Knox family they had not been subjected to threats.
And he confirmed that the pair had not yet spoken, but that his son would visit Knox - his first serious girlfriend - some time before Christmas.
When asked if his son was still in love with Knox, Mr Sollecito said: 'That's something I don't get involved in, it's between Amanda and him. I know he wrote to her several times from prison but I think it might be to strong to say they are still in love.'
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