Six years after the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, a coroner has ruled that she was unlawfully killed. 

A short hearing was held at Croydon Coroner's Court in South London Tuesday, in which coroner Dr. Roy Palmer formally closed the inquest into Kercher's death.

None of Kercher's relatives were present for the hearing, the Mirror reports. Barry May, the manager of the coroner's office, said he spoke with Kercher's brother Lyle, who had spoken to family members. He said his family was "content" for the hearing to take place in their absence. 

Dr. Palmer said he believed the Kerchers were "keen for closure" after "all these years."

He said it was "appropriate that I do bring some closure to them by completing the inquest."

Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was killed in the home she shared with American student Amanda Knox in Perugia, Italy in November 2007. She was in Italy studying European politics and Italian.

Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollectio were convicted of murdering Kercher in 2009 and sentenced to 25 and 28 years in prison, respectively. They were acquitted and released in 2011, and Knox returned home to Seattle, Wash.

Last year, the case went to retrial, but Knox stayed in Washington out of fear of being re-convicted. 

On Jan. 30, an appeals court re-convicted Knox and Sollecito of murdering Kercher. Knox is now preparing to appeal her conviction for Kercher's murder. 

Prosecutors claimed that Kercher was the victim of a drug-induced sex game gone wrong, but defendants said that Knox and Sollecito were not in the apartment the night she died. 

Rudy Guede, a drug dealer, is serving a 16-year sentence for Kercher's death, although courts have determined that he did not act alone. 

"She died, the autopsy tells us, as a result of haemorraghic shock from stab and incised wounds to the vasculature of the neck. I do conclude that she was unlawfully killed," Palmer said. 

Palmer added, "You have indicated that, on the night of 1/2 November, Meredith was found in her bedroom of her student residence... It was clearly an unnatural death.

"My understanding is that one male was convicted and has not appealed and so he stands convicted of unlawful killing."

May told the court that Guede has successfully appealed to reduce his 30-year sentence to 16 years.