Bar owner freed in Meredith case

Diya "Patrick" Lumumba was in prison for more than two weeks

A Congolese bar owner suspected of murdering British student Meredith Kercher has been released from custody, it has been reported.

Diya "Patrick" Lumumba was released from prison in Rome two weeks after he was remanded in custody by a judge, Italian news agency Ansa said.

The agency reported that as he was released he said: "I am happy to be going home. I thank God."

His release came on the same day a fourth suspect was arrested in Germany.

Throat cut

Mr Lumumba's lawyers had earlier formally applied for his release on grounds of lack of evidence.

"He was jailed with the shame of being a monster and today he comes out with his head held high," lawyer Giuseppe Sereni, who escorted him from prison, told Ansa.

Earlier police arrested 21-year-old Rudy Hermann Guede, who is an Ivory Coast national, in western Germany.

He faces charges over the murder and sexual assault on 1 November of Miss Kercher, 21, of Coulsdon, south London, who was found with her throat cut.

Miss Kercher's American roommate, Amanda Marie Knox, 20, and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 23, are also being held. They deny any involvement. Under Italian law they can be held for up to a year.

Officials said Mr Guede had been arrested in the western German city of Mainz by Interpol on an international warrant.

Italy extradition

Police in Mainz said a 20-year-old from Ivory Coast had been arrested for travelling without a ticket on a train bound for Frankfurt.

The man in question appears to be Mr Guede.

A spokesman for German prosecutors in Koblenz said Mr Guede would appear in court on Wednesday, when a judge would rule whether or not he could be kept in custody on the Italian warrant.

If the judge orders him to be detained, Koblenz prosecutors will begin preparing a case for his extradition.

Meredith Kercher was a student in Perugia, Italy

Perugia police chief Arturo de Felice said Mr Guede would be deported to Italy as soon as possible.

Police identified him as a suspect on Monday. They believe he left the central Italian city of Perugia, where the murder happened, for Milan, before travelling to Germany.

Bloody fingerprints found on Miss Kercher's pillow and on toilet paper in her bathroom are reported to match those of Mr Guede.

Mr Lumumba became a suspect based on Miss Knox's police interviews, according to court documents.

But the American was confused about the events because she had smoked cannabis before the killing, a judge said.

No physical evidence has emerged linking Mr Lumumba to the crime scene and witnesses have placed him at his bar on the night of the murder.

Police do not believe the murder was premeditated but they allege each of the suspects played a role.

Prosecutors believe Miss Kercher was killed after refusing to take part in an extreme sex game.