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Meredith Kercher's sister has called for an Edinburgh Fringe show by Amanda Knox, who was twice convicted and acquitted of her murder, to be cancelled.

Stephanie Kercher said she 'could not fathom' how rape and murder could be the subject of a comedy gig.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Thursday, Ms Kercher said her sister would not find her death 'of comedy value' and urged Knox to consider her family's 'immense' pain.

It comes after Knox previously said Meredith, who was killed in Perugia, Italy in 2007, would have found her show Cartwheel 'funny'.

Her 11-night run is scheduled to kick off on Friday, and appears to have already sold out – the Fringe website reports there is 'no allocation remaining' for any of the shows.

Knox is under growing pressure to cancel it after a petition launched by a family friend gained more than 3,500 signatures.

She has defended the show as being about herself and how she will explain her past to her two children.

Speaking this morning, Stephanie Kercher said: 'What I would say [to Knox] is to think about the family here, think about her friends and to turn the tables if it was your sister that this had happened to, because I know you have a sister as well.

Meredith Kercher's sister has called for an Edinburgh Fringe show by Amanda Knox (pictured), who was twice convicted and acquitted of her murder, to be cancelled

Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Thursday, Ms Kercher said her sister would not find her death 'of comedy value' and urged Knox to consider her family's 'immense' pain

'Meredith absolutely wouldn't find these topics of any comedy value.'

She continued: 'Our family's pain is immense. I can't explain to you how much pain our family have been through, and also we're talking two decades later now, this pain.'

In a previous statement, Ms Kercher added: 'Meredith, my sister, was a very clever and witty person and loved by so many for those very reasons.

'She was a girl's girl who you could rely on and would very much be the strong courageous woman today.

'She absolutely would not find comedy surrounding these issues funny and I believe this goes against everything that inspirational women are still fighting for today.'

It comes as a petition launched by Sally Alington, a friend of the Kercher family, calling for the venue and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to pull the show has gained more than 3,500 signatures.

The petition claims Knox's show, which is being performed at Gilded Balloon's Teviot venue and is billed as a stand-up comedy with 'adult' themes, turns her rape and murder into 'entertainment'.

Ms Alington said: 'I have a personal connection to the Kercher family and so know very well what they have been through since that tragic day in November 2007.

'To see this distasteful and disrespectful performance being given the green light to go ahead under the label of a "stand-up comedy" with "adult" themes when we are talking about the rape and murder of a young woman totally beggars belief.

'This isn't just wholly inappropriate and hurtful to family and friends of Meredith, this goes far beyond that. It normalises and trivialises violence against women.

Meredith Kercher, 21, was found stabbed to death at the flat she shared with Knox in Italy in 2007

'I am urging the organisers from the Gilded Balloon and the Fringe Festival to adjust their moral compasses, do the right thing and cancel these shows.'

Knox was twice convicted and twice cleared of the 2007 murder before Italy's Supreme Court acquitted her for good in 2015.

She was living with the British student in Perugia when Meredith, 21, was found dead in the flat they shared in November 2007, having been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death.

She and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted of the murder in 2009 and jailed, before being freed on appeal two years later.

A third defendant, Rudy Guede, was separately convicted of the killing in 2008.

A spokeswoman for Knox defended the performance, saying the petition made 'false assumptions and mischaracterises the show'.

In an interview earlier this week, Knox said she believed that her former flatmate would have found the show 'funny'.

Now living in rural Washington with her husband and two children, she said the show is about her wrongful imprisonment – and how she will explain her past life to her daughter.

It is named Cartwheel after the move Knox was widely reported to have made after being taken in for questioning. She denies this was the case.

Gilded Balloon said it had no comment beyond a statement given last month in defence of hosting the show.

It said: 'The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is an open-access festival.

'As a Fringe venue, we provide a platform for a wide range of voices, in line with the Fringe's long-standing commitment to freedom of expression (within the confines of the law) and ensure our audiences can make informed choices.

'Artists and companies choose to participate at our venue and take on the financial and creative responsibility for their work.

'Amanda's show is a one-woman piece exploring themes of motherhood, presented independently by her.'

A spokeswoman for Amanda Knox said: 'Cartwheel is a show about motherhood, raising a daughter in a world that is unfair and dangerous for women, and what it costs to be the kind of mother who tells her the truth about that.

'Neither the author of this petition nor anyone who signed it has seen Cartwheel. The petition contains false assumptions and mischaracterises the show.

'Cartwheel honours Meredith Kercher's memory.

'A petition to cancel a show no one has seen, on the grounds of false accusations intended to shame and vilify a wronged woman into silence, is not an argument against Cartwheel.

'It's a fairly precise description of what Cartwheel is about and why it deserves to exist.'