Meredith Kercher's killer Rudy Guede, 36, arrives at court to face claims he raped and assaulted his ex-girlfriend

The killer of British student Meredith Kercher appeared relaxed as he arrived at court this morning to face a charge that he raped and assaulted his former girlfriend.

Rudy Guede, 36, made no comment as he walked into the Palazzo Di Giustizia building in the Italian town of Vertibo to file his defence to the latest accusations that he faces.

Legal sources close to Guede who served 13 years in jail for the infamous murder and sexual assault of Miss Kercher, 21, in Italy have suggested he intends to deny the new allegations.

His alleged latest victim has claimed she was repeatedly abused by him during their relationship between September last year and August this year.

The allegations are said to include claims of sexual violence and 'being forced to have sexual intercourse against her will', along with assaults which left her with injuries.

Guede's appearance in court at a private hearing involved him being 'interrogated' by a judge and giving his side of the story before any potential trial.

He was accompanied by his grey-haired lawyer Carlo Mezzetti when he arrived at the modern court building in the historic medieval town just before 11.45am local time.

Guede who was wearing a black winter jacket and camel-coloured chinos with a rucksack on his back said nothing on the steps of the court as a MailOnline reporter asked him if he intended to deny the charges.

Mr Mezzetti also refused to comment on his client's guilt or innocence, saying: 'Today I am focussed on the legal process. Maybe he (Guede) will talk later.'

The lawyer also said the hearing would be considering an earlier judgement last Wednesday when Guede was told he was being required to wear an electronic tag to monitor his movements before any potential trial.

Guede was also ordered not to go within 500m of his alleged latest victim at the earlier hearing.

Miss Kercher who was on a year abroad during her studies at Leeds University was found semi-naked with multiple stab wounds after she was sexually assaulted in her bedroom in the Umbrian capital Perugia in November 2007.

Guede was originally sentenced to 30 years for the horrific murder at a fast-track trial in 2008 after his DNA was found on Miss Kercher's body and in her room.

He has always proclaimed his innocence, saying he had consensual activity with her and returned from the bathroom to find her bleeding with a shadowy figure standing over her.

But his sentence was reduced to 16 years on appeal, and he was granted day release from Viterbo prison in 2017 to complete a master's degree in sociology.

Guede was entrusted by social services in December 2020 to carry out the rest of his sentence doing community service and was finally freed on parole in November 2021 after a further cut in his sentence due to his good behaviour.

The horrific murder of Miss Kercher from Coulsdon, Surrey, made headlines around the world when her American student flatmate, Amanda Knox, who was aged 20 at the time, became a suspect.

Knox and her Italian boyfriend at the time Raffaele Sollecito were initially convicted of the murder of Miss Kercher, faking a break-in, and sexual violence. They served nearly four years in jail before they were sensationally acquitted.

Guede is currently living in Viterbo where he works as a researcher and librarian at the town's Centre for Crime, Judicial and Sociological Studies, and at a local pizzeria called Sapori.

People who know Guede have been rallying to support him since it was revealed that he faced new charges of sexual violence.

Pierluigi Vito who co-authored a book about him, attacked media reporting of the latest case, saying it had 'stripped' Guede of 'the right to a presumption of innocence'.

Giuseppe Berardino who runs a bistro in Viterbo where Gue has eaten in the past, said:

'I am shocked and I have a hard time imagining that the Rudy I know could do something like this.'

A legal source close to Guede also told MailOnline that it was believed he had 'concrete elements to defend himself'.

His alleged latest victim's lawyer Francesco Guido described her as 'a young and courageous girl who is facing a very difficult time' in an exclusive interview with MailOnline last week.

He added; 'My client believes she is the victim of a series of criminal crimes, the most serious of which is sexual assault.

'She had a relationship with Mr Guede and there were several criminal episodes including some cases of sexual violence.

'They had known each other for a few years and the relationship lasted for some time. When she reported Mr Guede, her relationship with him had already ended.

'The girl is very distressed. She is young, she is only 23-years-old, and when she met Mr Guede, she was much younger.

'She is very tired right now. She is going through a very difficult time psychologically.

'She is a young woman, full of courage. She knows perfectly well that she would have a difficult time reporting, but she decided to do it anyway so that the truth triumphs.'

Mr Guido said the alleged victim had known about Guede's high-profile conviction for the murder of Miss Kercher during her relationship with him.

He added: 'She was very young and very inexperienced. Even though she knew about the crime in Perugia, she evidently trusted him.

'She is an Italian girl who only has a foreign mother while her father is Italian, and in fact she is an Italian citizen in all respects.'

One of Guido's colleagues at Sapori pizzeria told MailOnline that he had been on a 'forced holiday' due to the case he faced and he had not been at work since last Monday.

The colleague added: 'He is at home. I don't know when he is coming in.'

Mr Guido said the alleged victim did not want to talk directly to the media about her ordeal.

He told local media 'She is a 23-year-old girl who has suffered trauma and who now also finds herself catapulted into a media event much bigger than her.'

Mr Guido added: 'It was not easy for her to report her partner. She first had to rationalise the episodes that happened.

'She needed time and the need to do an internal process, reflections on a personal level which in the end led her to denounce her partner. A very strong act, certainly.'

Prosecutors are said to have medical records detailing treatment the girl received, which she says were for injuries inflicted by Guede.

Mr Guido told MailOnline that the victim could not be identified under Italian law as victims of sexual violence were 'subject to a series of protection programmes'.

He said that Guede's appearance in Viterbo court today involved him being 'able to present his narrative of the facts and give his version'.

The lawyer added: 'It is not a public hearing. It is an interrogation that takes place behind closed doors, where only the person under investigation and his lawyer will participate.'

Guede's murder trial heard how his fingerprints and a palm print stained with the blood of Miss Kercher were found in her bedroom.

He claimed he had gone to the apartment with Miss Kercher, and had consensual sexual activity with her.

In a story which was rejected by prosecutors, he said he went to the bathroom and emerged to see a shadowy figure standing over her with a knife as she lay bleeding on the floor. A piece of broken glass by his footprint pointed to him having broken in

Following Miss Kercher's death, he fled by train to Germany where he was arrested days later.

Guede later told his victim's parents in a letter that his hands were stained with her blood because he was trying to save her.

La Repubblica newspaper reported that Guede wrote: 'If my hands are stained with blood it is because I tried to save Meredith.

'Fear took over and I ran away like a coward leaving Mez perhaps still alive. I will never stop regretting this.'

Following his release from prison, he continued to maintain his innocence, saying: 'The sentence I had to serve in the name of the law has ended. Now I am left marked by the judgement of strangers, by the slanted glances as I pass.'

Knox and Sollecito spent four years in prison after initially being convicted of Kercher's murder before being acquitted in 2011.

They were convicted again in 2014 by an appeals court in Florence, which ruled that the multiple injuries on Kercher's body suggested that Guede could not have acted alone.

Italy's highest court overturned the decision in a definitive ruling in 2015 which described 'stunning flaws' in the investigation that led to their convictions.

Sollecito reacted angrily this week to news of the sexual violence allegations faced by Guede.

He told La Stampa: 'It seems Guede has not changed… I don't follow Guede's life, but certainly in light of what happened today it seems to me that he hasn't changed.

'What he was before entering prison, what we read in the documents, is sadly reconfirmed and equally sad. We see that he has not repented.'

Miss Knox came under suspicion of the murder of Miss Kercher after Italian law enforcement officials believed she was acting strangely.

She was the one to first call the police after she discovered Miss Kercher's bedroom door locked and blood in the bathroom.