Family must wait to bury Meredith

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A court in Italy has said it needs more time to decide whether to order a second post-mortem on the body of a murdered British student.

The family of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher had asked authorities in Perugia to release her body for burial.

Their lawyer, Francesco Maresca, said: "The Kercher family are just waiting to be able to have a funeral."

Miss Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found with her throat cut on 1 November. Three people are in custody.

They are Miss Kercher's American housemate Amanda Knox, 20, Ms Knox's Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 23, and Rudy Hermann Guede, 20, who is originally from the Ivory Coast.

A fourth man, Congolese bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba, 38, was released from custody by Italian police last week because of a lack of evidence.

DNA tests

The hearing was held in front of Perugia's prosecutor general, Claudia Matteini, to decide whether results from the original post mortem examination were sufficient to more accurately establish the time and cause of Miss Kercher's death.

Last week, Italian police said DNA tests showed Mr Guede had sex with Miss Kercher on the night she died.

He was arrested on a train in Germany after failing to buy a ticket and is expected to be extradited to Italy within days.

Mr Guede has reportedly admitted being in the house at the time of the murder, but has insisted Miss Kercher was killed by a stranger.

Police do not believe the murder was premeditated but allege each of the suspects played a role.

All of the suspects deny sexually assaulting and murdering Miss Kercher, who was a student at Leeds University.