AMANDA Knox is "very confident" the US government will not allow her extradition to Italy if she is convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher in a retrial.

Ms Knox (25) is understood to have been briefed by lawyers on the 1984 extradition treaty between the US and Italy, and on her rights under the double-jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment of the US constitution not to be tried twice for the same crime.

A friend said: "I spoke to the family and they are very confident she won't have to go whatever happens."

The US State Department so far has said only that it would wait for a final explanation of this week's ruling from the Italian court before commenting.

Ms Knox, her relations and boyfriend, James Terrano (25), had gathered at her father's home in Seattle on Tuesday to celebrate what they thought would be the end of the case.

Instead, Italy's Court of Cassation overturned her acquittal and ordered the new trial. Her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito (29), who will also face a retrial, had been so confident their acquittals would be upheld that he had his bags packed and was planning to move to Switzerland to start an internet security firm.

Fleeing

Mr Sollecito, who is studying information technology and robotics at Verona University, denied suggestions that he was contemplating fleeing to Switzerland to avoid the retrial, pointing out that it was close to Italy and had an extradition treaty with Rome.

Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito were found guilty of the sexual assault and murder of Ms Kercher (21) from Surrey, England, at a trial in Perugia in 2009. They were jailed for 25 years and 26 years respectively, but their convictions were overturned by an appeal court in Perugia in 2011.

Ms Knox is now a student at the University of Washington in Seattle and has a $4m book deal with HarperCollins, which said it was going ahead with publication next month.

The retrial is expected to take place in about a year. (© Daily Telegraph, London)

Irish Independent