Tributes to glider crash daredevil Bill
Acquitted former student sends ‘love’ to prison penpal
BY RORY CASSIDY THE family of a paragliding pensioner who died after crashing his motorised glider yesterday paid tribute to him.
Bill Kerr, 77, was killed when the craft came down on a hillside in his home village of Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire, on Tuesday.
Bill, described himself as a “Christian, former company director, a paramotor pilot, and ex-farmer” on Facebook.
Bill’s son Peter said on social media: “Judi, Jonny, Pete and Ruth are sad to inform those who know him that our dad died in a paramotoring accident.
“We, including Mum (Nora), would like to collate the many stories about Dad.
“Please include the funny, uplifting, irreverant, and downright illegal (now that he can’t be arrested).”
AN AMERICAN student cleared of killing her British flatmate in Italy has vowed to visit Scotland after a receiving a letter from a Scottish fan in jail. Amanda Knox was sentenced to 26 years for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, from London, in Perugia. She served four years before her conviction and that of her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were overturned in 2011. Appearing on The DW Podcast with Scottish host Derek Watson, Knox, 33, revealed that she received letters from people all over
BY KIRSTEN McSTAY the world while she was in prison, including a Scottish fan.
She said: “I received a letter from someone in Scotland and if that person is listening right now, I love you.
“I need to get to Scotland. I’ve never been to Scotland. I sort of have this expectation of a comfortable and open place.”
While she confesses that she can’t remember who her fan was, she remembers being touched by what they wrote.
She added: “There’s something that’s genuinely self-realised about someone who’s willing to say, ‘Hey there, I see you. How you doing?’ So I appreciate everyone.
“Letters of support to say you’re not forgotten are one of the biggest things when you’re in prison. You feel forgotten, you’ve literally been taken from the world and that was very, very encouraging.”
Seattle-born Amanda was studying in Perugia when she was accused of murdering her 21-year-old flatmate.
Meredith, on exchange from Leeds University, was found murdered in the apartment she shared with Knox on November 2, 2007.
Knox had been staying with Sollecito the night before and returned to the grim discovery the following day.
She went on to tell Derek that she believes she is lucky to be alive.
She said: “The thing that haunts me to this day is that if
I had been home that night, I could be dead. So there are tragedies upon tragedies that resulted from this crime.
“A lot was taken from me but it should be said that the most that was taken from anyone was from Meredith.”
Knox returned to the US from Italy in 2011 but in January 2014, the Italian courts overturned that acquittal and reinstated the guilty verdict.
The case was passed to the Supreme Court and her conviction was definitively overturned in March 2015.
Fingerprints were at the scene of Meredith’s death were later identified as belonging to drifter Rudy Guede, who is currently serving 16 years for her murder.