A 22-year-old British student found murdered in Italy has been named as Meredith Kercher .

She was found with a deep cut to her throat in her bedroom in the town of Perugia, according to reports.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "Our consular staff are in Perugia to liaise with the Italian authorities and to provide the necessary consular assistance.

"The circumstances of the death are under investigation by the Italian police."

Miss Kercher's partially clothed body was found under a duvet at a house in the Viale, Sant'Antonio, not far from the city centre.

She had been in Italy since August as part of a university exchange.

The report said she had been to a party. Three other students who lived with her did not stay at home last night.

The door seemed to have been locked from the inside and police are concentrating on a window to the outside, reports said.

She was discovered after her mobile phone being found in the garden of a nearby house.

An elderly woman took the phone to police, who checked who the owner was, which led them to the house.

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