Germany To Extradite Man Over UK Student Murder

The extradition order granted late on Monday means 20-year-old Rudy Hermann Guede, from the Ivory Coast, will be sent to Italy.

German authorities have agreed to extradite a man suspected of being involved in the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Italy, a senior prosecutor said on Tuesday.

The extradition order granted late on Monday means 20-year-old Rudy Hermann Guede, from the Ivory Coast, will be sent to Italy where police have said they found fingerprints matching his on Kercher's pillow.

"We hope it will happen quickly," said Karl-Rudolf Winkler, senior prosecutor in the state of Rhineland-Platinate. "We are talking with Italian authorities about when and how."

Guede, in German custody, has made no public comments on the case. Kercher, a 21-year-old exchange student from Leeds University, was found dead on Nov. 2 in the town of Perugia, semi-naked, with a deep cut to her throat.

Prosecutors believe she was killed because she refused to have sex with one or more attackers.

Guede was arrested on Nov. 20 in Germany after being caught on a train near the Rhine River without a valid ticket.

News of Kercher's murder resonated around Europe, where thousands of young people like her study under the Erasmus exchange programme.