(ANSA) - Perugia, March 4 - The December guilty verdict of Amanda Knox for the murder of her British housemate Meredith Kercher in Perugia in 2007 was released in full Thursday.

In the 427-page document, Perugia Court President Giancarlo Massei and fellow judge Beatrice Cristiani said the case against Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was "without holes or inconsistencies".

Knox was sentenced to 26 years in jail and Sollecito to 25.

Both deny wrongdoing and are appealing.

The evidence led to the convictions as "a necessary and strictly consequential outcome," the two judges wrote.

But the murder, which the jury agreed was the result of a drunken sex game gone wrong, was not planned and the culprits had no ill feeling for Kercher, they said.

"It was a murder without planning, without any animosity or grudge against the victim".

The slaying was the result of "purely casual contingencies," they wrote, pointing out that the pair had not planned to meet the third convicted murderer, Ivory Coast native Rudy Guede, on the night of the crime.

Kercher also happened to be alone on the night of the murder, November 1-2 2007, they said.

The judges highlighted that the convicted covered Kercher's body, a gesture the jury interpreted "a sort of regret for what they had done".

The ruling also highlighted that Knox falsely accused a Perugia pub owner, Congo native Patrick Lumumba, "in the awareness that Lumumba was innocent", leading to the extra year tagged onto her sentence compared to Sollecito's. The verdict against Knox caused a strong reaction in the United States where 'pro-Amanda' groups have rallied to support her appeal later this year. One of the United States' top lawyers will flank her Italian defence team.

Knox's family has chosen Ted Simon, president of the National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers, because he is an expert in defending Americans tried abroad.

Curt Knox, father of the Seattle-born former exchange student, said Simon would be "a great resource" for the defence.

Simon said in January he was anxious to start working closely with Knox's defence lawyers Luciano Ghirga and Carlo Dalla Vedova.

"Her conviction was a tragic mistake...but I'm certain that we'll be able to obtain her release with the new trial," he said.

The appeal is expected to focus on DNA evidence which was already hotly contested in the first trial.

After the sentence, the Knox family said she had received a fair trial but the verdict was a ''big mistake''.

The Kercher family said they had faith in Italian justice.

Leeds University exchange student Kercher, 21, was found with her throat cut on November 2, 2007 in the house she shared with Knox, now 22, in the central Italian town of Perugia.

Guede, now 23, convicted in a separate trial last summer for the rape and murder of the British exchange student had his sentence commuted from 30 to 16 years by an appeals court in Perugia.

He is also appealing.

According to the prosecution, Sollecito, 25, and Guede held Kercher down as Guede tried to have sex with as Knox threatened her with a knife, before delivering a fatal blow.

The knife was later found with Knox's DNA on the handle and Kercher's on the blade, though the defence argued the traces were too small to be significant.

They also said the knife was too big to have inflicted the wounds found on Kercher.

No DNA from Knox or Sollecito was found at the crime scene but Guede's was found there, as well as on the body. Under Italian law convicted criminals are entitled to two appeals. Knox and Sollecito's first appeal is expected to get under way this summer.

Their legal teams are confident of overturning the verdict or getting the jail terms shortened.

The US consulate is providing its customary support for Knox ahead of her appeal. photo: Knox appealing to the court on November 21