Welcome to stardom, Amanda

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have been acquitted. For the past couple of days all papers have showed photos of a very happy Amanda boarding her flight to Seattle, going home after spending four years in an Italian jail. Supporters of Amanda are jubilant about the acquittal, the family of Meredith Kercher, the British girl so brutally murdered - she had forty seven knife wounds on her body -  are stunned and they are yet to know the truth about how their beloved girl died, whereas those who believe Amanda and Raffaele are guilty claim that the acquittal was a political decision to satisfy US demands. That the investigation was flawed is a fact and on that basis alone the Italian court had to acquit the pair.  Yet  Amanda will always be known as the woman who probably helped to kill Meredith. That doubt will never be cleared, she is marked for the rest of her life. Comparisons with OJ Simpson come to mind: he played the race card, evidence was inadequate and he was acquitted. But in people's minds, even after all these years  he still remains a murderer, one who got away.

Photographer: Martin Robinson

Many murderers actually do escape prison sentencing by a hair breadth, often because their guilt cannot be conclusively proven. Yet what they have done stays with them, it will be forever on their conscience and will mark them , one way or another and it will affect their relationships with others. 

Can you love, respect and trust someone who has killed another human being in cold blood and managed to get away with it? Most people will  answer no to this question. Can you respect someone who knows about someone else committing a murder  and yet prefers to keep quiet about it?
 Someone knows something but has said nothing.
Amanda is officially innocent. She knows more than she cares to admit but has been totally exonerated. The Kerchers will continue their heroic fight for  the truth about Meredith but noone will ever really know what happened that night in November 2007 when young Meredith lost her life.  Meanwhile, what next? Amanda is going to make a huge amount of money cashing in on Meredith's death through book deals and Hollywood films and will embrace celebrity status. Murder, it seems, is a lucrative proposition.

(All photos modelled by Alex B)