Man accused of killing Meredith Kercher by Amanda Knox challenges her to attend verdict Patrick Lumumba was held in custody for two weeks Amanda Knox told police she 'covered her ears as he killed' Meredith He was dragged from his home in front of his children and wife by police He said: 'If Knox is innocent she should come to court for the decision' Only released when a university professor provided him with an alibi Patrick Lumumba who was falsely accused of murdering Meredith Kercher by Amanda Knox The barman wrongly accused by Amanda Knox of murdering a British student has urged her to come to court 'if she is as innocent as she claims' - just hours ahead of a verdict in her appeal trial. Patrick Lumumba was held in custody for two weeks after Knox, 26, told police she had 'covered her ears as he killed' Meredith Kercher in her bedroom of the house she shared with her fellow student. As a result of the false accusation Lumumba was dragged from his home in front of his children and wife, in a dawn raid by police and taken to jail only being released when a university professor provided him with a rock solid alibi. Speaking ahead of Thursday's verdict, he said: 'If she (Knox) is innocent as she should come to court for the decision. I will be there. If she is so sure that she had nothing to do with it, then she should be in court to hear the judges decision. The unemployed musician added: 'I think she is running away - I'm the one who has been left in a real mess because of what she said. My bar closed and my business folded - I have nothing now and no work. Because of what she said I was put in jail for two weeks and my bar was impounded by the police for four months. 'My friends tried t help me as best they could but it wasn't enough because they were all having a hard time as well. 'The false arrest had a real negative impact on my personal life and my business life - things have never really recovered and it's all because of what Amanda wrongly told the police. 'I haven't even been paid any compensation by her that I'm owed.' Patrick Lumumba (centre) walks with his lawyer after he was released by Italian police following the false accusation made by Amanda Knox Knox was convicted of slandering Lumumba and ordered to pay him 22,000 euros in 2011 and he was also later awarded 8,000 euros in damages by the Italian state but he rejected this to pursue a claim through the European Court of Human Rights. Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 29, were charged with murdering and sexually assaulting Meredith in 2007, after she was found semi-naked and with her throat cut in the bedroom of her house in Perugia, Italy. Initially, both were convicted in 2009 and Knox was sentenced to 26 years and Sollecito to 25 years but then in 2011 the verdicts were sensationally overturned and both were allowed to go free. But last year, in a case that has been marked with numerous twists and turns, Italy's Supreme Court ordered a fresh retrial of the appeal. That case began last September in Florence, 100 miles from where the murder took place. A verdict is due on Thursday and prosecutors have demanded custodial sentences be imposed on both Knox and Sollecito although neither will be in court for the verdict. Raffaele Sollecito walks outside the Florence court, on Monday, January 20 Knox has remained in her home at Seattle, fearful of travelling although she did email the court to protest her innocence in a statement read out by her lawyer, in which she insisted she 'was not a monster.' Judge Alessandro Nencini described the emailed statement as 'unusual' adding that defendants 'should be in court if they wanted to speak.' Computer studies graduate Sollecito, from Bisceglie, near Bari, is now expected to be in court. There has been speculation in the Italian media that he would flee Italy ahead of the verdict especially as it has emerged that he has been spending a lot of time in the Caribbean paradise island of the Dominican Republic which has no extradition treaty. Prosecutors have already demanded that should a guilty verdict be returned by judge Alessandro Nencini then 'precautionary measures' should be imposed on Sollecito which could include house arrest and surrounding his passport. In Knox's case, it is not entirely clear if the Italian authorities will seek her extradition from the United States even though a treaty does exist between both countries. To add to the confusion any verdict will go to a further automatic appeal at the Supreme Court so any final decision is likely to be many months, if not years away. This photo taken in November 2007 shows Amanda Knox (left) and Raffaele Sollecito (right) outside the rented house where 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher was found dead The retrial in Florence shifted the motive away from a sex game gone wrong as was initially argued to a simple bitter feud of jealousy between Knox and Meredith - with the British girl uncomfortable at her flatmate's cleanliness and habit of bringing men home. However Knox and her lawyers have hit back and insisted the theory is rubbish, with Knox herself stressing that the two were 'good friends' and she has expressed several times a desire to visit Meredith's grave and meet her family. The DNA evidence from the previous trial has also been revisited with experts being called to testify in particular about a 30cm kitchen knife which was found at Sollecito's home and which was believed to be the murder weapon. At the initial conviction it was said DNA from Knox was on the handle and that of Meredith on the blade but the later trial and the appeal established that although there was indeed traces of the American, those of Meredith's were so tiny they should not be relied upon. Prosecutors want both Knox and Sollecito jailed for 26 years, with Knox having her one year sentence for slandering Lumumba increased to four. Meredith's sister Stephanie and brother Lyle are expected to travel from their home in Coulsdon, Surrey, for the verdict - the third time in seven years that they have attended a court trial related to the killing of their sibling. A third man, Ivory Coast drifter Rudy Guede, 27, is serving a 16 year sentence for the murder and sexual assault and he is expected to be released on parole next year. He, like Knox and Sollecito, has always protested his innocence.