Reports: Italian court cites danger of fleeing in denying release bid by suspects in slaying

The American student held as a suspect in the 2007 slaying of a young British woman has a "negative personality" and might flee Italy if released from jail, news reports quoted Italy's top criminal court as saying Monday.

The Court of Cassation was explaining its April 1 decision that Amanda Knox, a university student from Seattle, should remain in a Perugia jail while the probe continues into the stabbing death of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, who lived with Knox in a rented house in the Umbrian university town of Perugia.

Italian courts must issue written explanations of their decisions, and the Italian news agencies Apcom and ANSA quoted from a ruling released on Monday which describes Knox as having a "negative personality," notes that she has "contradicted" herself on several occasions and contends she is at risk for flight because she is a foreigner.

The court was closed to the public Monday afternoon and a copy of the written could not immediately be obtained.

The explanation also cited a similar risk of flight for Knox's former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian who was also denied release from jail in the April 1 ruling, saying he has a "fragile" character, Apcom reported.

Also kept in the Perugia jail by the April 1 ruling is Ivory Coast national Rudy Herrman Guede.

All three have denied any wrongdoing. Knox and Sollecito have explained their confused recollections and conflicting statements by saying they smoked hashish the night of the killing, according to court documents.

The three are being held as suspects in the probe of the slaying of Kercher, who was studying for the year in Perugia, a medieval town 180 kilometers (about 110 miles) north of Rome.

Knox, 20, and Sollecito, 24, have been jailed since Nov. 6, four days after the body was found, in a sea of blood, in the victim's bedroom. Guede, 21, was arrested in Germany on Nov. 20 and extradited to Italy. He is believed to have fled shortly after the slaying.

The Perugia judges have ruled that the three could be held for up to a year while the case is investigated. The suspects have not been formally charged.