Amanda Knox is now writing for a local newspaper in Seattle

Amanda Knox, the 27-year-old woman who was convicted of the murder of her British room-mate Mereditch Kercher in Italy in 2007, is now working as a freelance reporter for a local newspaper in the US.

The web editor of the weekly West Seattle Herald has explained that the newspaper approached Knox, not because of her notoriety, but because of her background in writing (she had been studying creative writing in Italy) and to offer her the chance to return to normality.

We approached her originally to give her the opportunity of a normal life.

We simply asked her as we would ask anyone of that age and stage, if they would be interested in writing for us as a qualified writer of that scale and this level of journalism.

Amanda’s a very bright, very capable, highly qualified writer. Why not give her the opportunity to be an actual human being versus a celebrity?

• Patrick Robinson, web editor of the Herald, speaking to the Daily Beast.

So far, Knox, who was also thought to be writing under a pseudonym originally, has penned four articles for the Herald since 17th October.

One on a family launching a Kickstarter campaign to make organic cashew nut milk, another is a theatre review for a show called Dogfight about marines going off to fight in Vietnam, an interview with that show's director and lastly an interview with the director of a high school adaptation of Hamlet.

Knox, along with her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, was convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher, spent four years in jail but was released on appeal and returned to the US.

The case was then heard before a supreme court last year where they were sentenced to 28 years in jail. Knox, who grew up in Seattle, still maintains her innocence and is unlikely to ever be extradited to the country.

She also signed a book deal in 2012, reported to be worth $4 million, to tell her side of the story.

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