An American student suspected of involvement in the murder of Meredith Kercher said she was "stunned" by the crime, and denied playing a role in it.
In an interview with an Italian newspaper, Amanda Knox said she had felt "intoxicated with freedom" since moving to study in the city of Perugia, where her British flatmate Miss Kercher was found with her throat cut on November 2.
Answering questions from prison through her lawyer, the 20-year-old from Seattle said she was fond of Miss Kercher and was shocked by her death.
"Meredith was sweet and sensitive," she told La Repubblica. "It's not true we argued every day. I liked living with her. It has made me feel awful that people think I killed Meredith, just as the things they have said on TV and in the newspapers have hurt me.
"My mother has been torn apart by the Anglo-Saxon newspapers, and they describe me as if I were a monster."
Knox has been in custody since November 6, when she was arrested along with her Italian boyfriend Rafaelle Sollecito, 23.
A third man, Rudy Hermann Guede, was arrested in Germany and extradited to Italy last week. All four deny involvement in Miss Kercher's death.
Knox said her relationship with Sollecito was "one of the most intense" of her life.
"In those terrible days after the discovery of what had happened, we supported each other, both stunned by the senseless tragedy of Meredith's death," she said.
Miss Kercher, a Leeds University student from Coulsden, Surrey, was studying as part of an exchange programme when she was murdered in her flat in Perugia on the night of November 1. Police said there was evidence to suggest she had been the victim of a violent sexual encounter.
