Romance between killing suspects over

PERUGIA, Italy, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- The romance between the U.S. student and her Italian boyfriend, both on trial for the death of British student Meredith Kercher in Italy, is over, the man said.

There was a love affair between the American student Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, The Times of London reported Friday.

Speaking to his lawyers, Sollecito said Knox remained "a dear friend," and he wished her well.

"She is someone with whom I have shared a tragedy which is bigger than both of us and which has become transformed into a gigantic misunderstanding," Sollecito was quoted as saying. "But our love is finished, without any problems. I have seen her in court, we smiled at each, she is still beautiful. But our love is over."

Kercher, a 22-year-old foreign exchange student, was found semi-naked with her throat cut Nov. 2 at the house she shared in Perugia, Italy, with three other female students, ANSA has reported.

Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini said Kercher was killed when Knox, Sollecito and Ivory Coast national Rudy Guede tried to force her to participate in ''a perverse group sex game.''

Mignini asked judges for a life sentence for Guede, who asked for a fast-track trial so that he would not be tried alongside Knox, 21, and Sollecito, 24, the Italian news service reported.