Amanda Knox is due to return to Italy to face long-standing slander charge years after being exonerated for the murder of her student roommate Meredith Kercher

Amanda Knox is due to make a sensational return to Italy, where she was initially found guilty of murder before being cleared, in order to fight a long standing slander charge.

Officials have set a date for the hearing of April 10 and she is expected to fly in from the United States to the Italian city of Florence for the proceedings.

It was at the city's court that she and former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito had their murder convictions reinstated in 2014, only for them to be eventually acquitted a year later.

In a long drawn out legal process, the pair were initially found guilty of the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher, who was found semi naked and with her throat cut in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox.

But in 2011 Knox and Sollecito were cleared and released, only for a court in Florence to reinstate the verdicts before the couple were finally exonerated in 2015 by Italy's Court of Cassation in Rome.

Amanda Knox addresses a panel discussion titled "Trial by Media" during the Criminal Justice Festival at the Law University of Modena, northern Italy on June 15, 2019

Knox was given three years for slandering Lumumba (pictured centre in 2007) and was also ordered to pay him damages which have never been forthcoming

She and former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito had their murder convictions reinstated in 2014, only for them to be eventually acquitted a year later

Meredith Kercher was a British student on exchange from the University of Leeds

The murder of Leeds University student Meredith, 21, in the picturesque hilltop town of Perugia made headlines around the world and spawned several books, films and documentaries.

Knox has since made a career as a commentator on unfair convictions and is also a media personality, while Sollecito has faded into the background and works in computers in Milan.

The new trial in April follows Knox's initial questioning by Italian police following the discovery of Meredith's body.

Knox is battling against her conviction for slander which saw her given a three year prison sentence after she falsely accused a bar owner of being involved in Meredith's murder.

During questioning Knox had told police that she 'remembered' Patrick Lumumba, the owner of a bar where she worked 'killing Meredith'.

As a result he was arrested and held in custody for two weeks before being released when customers came forward to copper bottom his alibi.

She was given three years for slandering Lumumba and was also ordered to pay him damages which have never been forthcoming.

As her sentence is considered 'served' by her time in prison her legal team have asked for the conviction to be overturned.

Meredith was found with her throat cut in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox

The new trial in April follows Knox's initial questioning by Italian police following the discovery of Meredith's body

During questioning Knox had told police that she 'remembered' Patrick Lumumba, the owner of a bar where she worked 'killing Meredith'

Knox, now 36, and now a mother-of-two living in Seattle, will return to Italy. Pictured 2009

In October Knox's lawyers successfully applied for the case to be reheard after the European Court of Human Rights ruled there had been infringements by Italian police during her questioning.

These included not having a legal representative or translator present while she was being quizzed by detectives probing Meredith's murder.

Knox, now 36, and now a mother-of-two living in Seattle, also claimed she was slapped and hit by police during her questioning.

Speaking of the possibility of clearing her name for the slander conviction, she said: 'I'm not afraid of returning to Italy to defend myself, I was unprepared at 20 but after all these years I'm ready. And I want my children to see what it means to fight for the truth.'

Lumumba's lawyer Carlo Pacelli said: 'My client has never received an apology from Knox or the damaged he was awarded. As a result he was forced to leave Italy and set up home elsewhere and now he will have to go through the whole legal process again.'

Sollecito has faded into the background and works in computers in Milan

While Mr Lumumba said: 'My life was turned upside down that night by her lie. She knew I was innocent but those few words that night took my life away in a flash and changed everything for me.

'Now she wants to have a retrial and who knows maybe claim money from the Italian State and I have been left with nothing.'

Ivory Coast drifter Rudy Guede was convicted of murdering and sexually assaulting Meredith and sentenced to 16 years in 2008.

He has since been released but was recently ordered to wear a tag pending an allegation of rape filed by a former girlfriend.