PERUGIA - Lawyers for computer engineer Raffaele Sollecito have submitted a request to the Florence Court of Appeals for 516,000 euros in compensation for Sollecito having spent nearly four years in jail before being cleared of the murder of British student Mereditch Kercher in 2007.

  "Nothing and nobody can give us back what Raffaele lost in those nearly four years spent in a cell," said his father, Francesco Sollecito. "It was the minimum that we could ask for in light of what happened. We had to make this request also because of the heavy expenses incurred during the investigation and the various trials”.

  Sollecito and his ex girlfriend, American Amanda Knox, Kercher's former flat mate, were cleared of the murder by Italy's Supreme Court last year on appeal after twice being convicted.

  Kercher was found dead on the floor of her bedroom in Perugia in 2007, spending time in Italy as part of her degree from the University of Leeds. By the time the bloodstained fingerprints at the scene were identified as belonging to Rudy Guede, police had already charged Knox and Sollecito. Guide is currently serving a 16-year sentence for the murder.