Rudy Guede, the man who in all likelihood killed Meredith Kercher alone, was convicted of “receiving stolen goods” by an appeals court in Milan a few days ago and was sentenced to 16 months in prison, subject to confirmation by the supreme court.
On Oct. 27, 2007 – days before Meredith was murdered – Rudy Guede was caught breaking into a private school in Milan. He had a laptop, a woman’s golden watch, and a knife with him. The laptop had been stolen from a lawyer’s office in Perugia; the golden watch had disappeared from a burned-out home (arson suspected); and the knife was large enough for its possession to be illegal.
However someone called the Milanese cops from Perugia, and the young man was released. On Nov. 1, he killed Meredith Kercher. Perugian authorities have gone to great lengths to protect Rudy Guede: he is due to be on “work release” from prison this or next year.
It’s rather odd that various Italian courts have been so big on the theory that Knox and Sollecito staged a burglary when Rudy Guede had a history of breaking into people’s homes. Although the Milan court had no chance to convict Guede of burglary in Perugia, it probably did the best it could with the information it had been provided.
For more details, I suggest The Forgotten Killer: Rudy Guede and the Murder of Meredith Kercher by Douglas Preston, John Douglas and others.