The family of murdered student Meredith Kercher said they wanted "truth and justice" for her.

Mother Arline, sister Stephanie and brother Lyle gave a press conference hours before a decision is due in the appeal of convicted killers Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito.

Knox was jailed for 26 years and Sollecito for 25 years after the pair were found guilty of killing Coulsdon resident Miss Kercher, 21, in her flat in Perugia in 2007.

Sister Stephanie told the assembled media: "It is difficult to keep her memory alive in all of this, which is why the trial is going on.

"We can find truth and justice for her and that is why we are here today - to be present and remember Meredith in a city that she loved."

She said it was "very presumptious" to talk about forgiveness in relation to Knox, 24, and Sollecito, 27.

She said: "What everybody needs to remember is the brutality of what actually happened that night.

"Everything she went through, the fear and the terror and not knowing why.

"She did not deserve that, no one deserves that."

Her brother Lyle spoke about how Meredith's absence at birthdays and Christmas was "huge".

He said: "It is almost as if she has gone away on an extended break and we have not seen her come back."

Asked if she knew why Meredith was murdered, her mother Arline quoted a previous newspaper article, which said: "I think that it happened to Meredith because she was all that they were not."

The family would not be drawn on questions relating to possible outcomes of the appeal.

But they hoped the jury would make their decision based on the evidence rather than the "large PR machine" of the Knox family.

A decision on the appeal is due after 8pm tonight.