Italian prosecutors finally requested murder indictments today against an American student and two other suspects in the killing last year of the British student Meredith Kercher.

The decision means that Amanda Knox, 21, from Seattle, Raffaelle Sollecito, her Italian boyfriend, and Rudy Hermman Guede, from the Ivory Coast, could go on trial for Miss Kercher's murder by the end of this year, as long as a judge agrees that there is sufficient evidence.

Miss Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon, South London, was found dead on November 2 last year in a rented house in the university town of Perugia that she shared with Ms Knox. The Leeds University student was partially dressed and had had her throat slashed.

Ms Knox and her boyfriend were arrested within days. Mr Guede was arrested in Germany two weeks later and extradited to Italy. All three have denied any wrongdoing.

Under Italian law, suspects in a murder case can be held for up to a year without a formal indictment while prosecutors build a case.

The Perugia prosecutor Guiliano Mignini ended his investigation last month and deposited 10,000 pages of evidence from autopsy reports, interrogations, evidence and phone taps.

Mr Mignini claims that Miss Kercher was raped, strangled and stabbed in the neck. He has accused the three suspects of voluntary homicide and sexual assault. Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito have also been accused of faking a break-in and of stealing Miss Kercher's money and credit cards.

The defendants' lawyers gave their formal reply to the documents this week.

A date will now be set for a preliminary hearing, probably in late September, in front of a judge who will decide whether there is sufficient evidence for the suspects to stand trial. If he decides to go ahead, the full trial would probably start later this year.

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