An emotional Amanda Knox has accused the media of portraying her as guilty of Meredith Kercher’s murder, despite a court clearing her of the crime in 2015.

The 31-year-old wept while speaking in Italy, on a panel at a conference on criminal justice.

Ms Knox, said the press had portrayed her as “a cunning, psychopathic, dirty, drugged-up whore who was guilty until proven otherwise”.

“The prosecutors and the media created a story and a version of me that suited that story, on which people could attach all their fantasies, fears and moral judgments... the dirty, psychopathic man-eater Foxy Knoxy,” she said.

Kercher, a British exchange student, was found dead by police in the flat she shared with Ms Knox in Perugia, Italy, on 2 November 2007.

The Knox watchers: Meet the people who are obsessed with Amanda Knox's fate Show all 6 1 /6 The Knox watchers: Meet the people who are obsessed with Amanda Knox's fate The Knox watchers: Meet the people who are obsessed with Amanda Knox's fate 490061.bin Amanda Knox is escorted by police as she arrives for a preliminary hearing in Perugia, Italy in June this year. Knox appeared in court for the first time since her murder conviction to face charges that she slandered police by saying she was beaten during questioning over the death of her roommate Meredith Kercher in 2007 AP The Knox watchers: Meet the people who are obsessed with Amanda Knox's fate 488864.bin Journalist Candace Dempsey says: 'What intrigued me was that nothing in the papers was true' Stuart Isett The Knox watchers: Meet the people who are obsessed with Amanda Knox's fate 488867.bin Crime writer Graham Johnson says: 'I think that this murder was more likely to do with a botched robbery' Sam Holden The Knox watchers: Meet the people who are obsessed with Amanda Knox's fate 488865.bin Amanda Knox's friend Madison Paxton says: 'Amanda being arrested is still absurd to me' Stuart Isett The Knox watchers: Meet the people who are obsessed with Amanda Knox's fate 488868.bin Campaigner Lisa Lazuli says: 'There are no credible witnesses and no credible DNA' Simon Hadley/UNP The Knox watchers: Meet the people who are obsessed with Amanda Knox's fate 488869.bin Author Barbie Nadeau says: 'My book didn't stand up for Knox, so I do receive hostile e-mails' Francesca Ferretti

Ms Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, her then-boyfriend and an Italian citizen, were found guilty of murder and sexual assault in 2009.

But two years later the pair had their convictions quashed following an appeal and were released.

The US exchange student spent four years in prison before leaving Italy after the 2011 acquittal.

A hearing held in January 2014 reconvicted Ms Knox, before Italy’s supreme court definitively cleared her in 2015.

Rudy Guede was eventually convicted of sexually assaulting and stabbing Kercher to death in 2008. He is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence for the student’s murder.

Ms Knox’s appearance in Modena for the festival marks her first return to Italy since 2011.

“I’m returning to Italy as a free woman,” she wrote in an Instagram post published before her speech.

Ms Knox currently hosts The Truth about True Crime, a podcast series for Sundance TV.

The murder of Kercher, who was a student at the University of Leeds, has attracted significant media attention since 2007.

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Ms Knox published a memoir about her experience in 2013 and a documentary and film have also been made.

The Kercher family’s lawyer reacted with dismay to Knox’s return to Italy.

“Inviting [Knox] to a technical panel on justice was a mistake,” Francesco Maresca said, branding the appearance “inappropriate”.

“Lawyers for both parties should have been involved,” he added.