“Her nightmare is over” is what the sister of Amanda Knox said to the waiting journalists outside court in Perugia, where she’d just learnt that her sisters conviction for the murder of Meredith Kercher had been declared unsafe and she is now a free woman.  You can only imagine the family’s relief to know that Amanda will be back with them shortly, but I wonder if Deanna Knox is really right in what she says.  There cannot be many things worse than being accused of the most heinous crime and incarcerated for four years whilst the world argues over whether you are just a fun loving girl or some terrible she-devil incapable of proper feelings but capable of the darkest deeds.  However, I think her sister is wrong.  The nightmare is not over.  How will she cope with trying to pick up the threads of her life?

Her name is known the world over and there will continue to be people who believe in her guilt, despite the fact that her conviction has been set aside. Witness the hostile reaction from some members of the Italian public when they realised that she had won her freedom, yelling that she was a murderer.

Over the next few days the press will be waiting to get that first interview with her.  When she will give her first interview or if she will give one, we have yet to find out, but if she does, I hope that she is well advised and is very careful in what she says.  So much has been already said about her inappropriate behaviour when she and Sollecito were first questioned.  Whether the criticism was really fair is open to debate.  People do all sorts of things under stress and it’s very easy for outsiders to pass judgement over what’s appropriate and what’s not. 

There will be many people in America wanting to hear about her ordeal, where she has received generally sympathetic coverage.  But the interest  in her will also be a high in Italy and the UK from the press and the public where coverage has not been quite as kind.  It will not be easy for her to draw the right line and not appear over triumphant or disconnected from what happened.   If she gets it wrong, she will only invite further  criticisms and prolong the interest in her. 

The Knox family have undoubtedly incurred many costs over the last four years as they have spent so much time in Italy supporting Amanda. The lure of the large amounts of money she will undoubtedly be offered to tell her story may be very difficult to resist. Plus the fact she may feel she has the right to let the world know the 'real' Amanda Knox, rather than the one described by the Italian prosecution.

But what happens when the cameras have left and she has to get on with her life in Seattle? After the initial euphoria of tasting freedom she will have a lot of readjustments to make.  Re-establishing her relationships, going out, finishing her studies, deciding what she’s going to do with the rest of her life are all things she will have to face in time.  None of that will be easy for her, or for her loved ones. 

Whatever the future holds for Amanda Knox she will forever be associated with the brutal murder of Meredith Kercher.  Her nightmare is far from over.