text: Convict: Small time drug dealer Rudy Guede, 29, is currently serving a 16-year sentence for the murder . The only person convicted for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has declared that he will seek a retrial, following the sensational exoneration of Amanda Knox. Small time drug dealer Rudy Guede, 29, is serving a 16-year sentence for the murder in Perugia, Italy. The Ivory Coast national's DNA was found all over the bedroom where Miss Kercher was found half-naked, her throat slit in 2007, in the cottage she shared with Knox. Knox and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito served four years for the murder, which prosecutors claimed was a sex game gone wrong, before being conclusively cleared last month by Italy's highest court. The Supreme Court's ruling throws a new lifeline to Guede, who was convicted by the same court of being an accomplice to a murder 'committed in the company of others'. Lawyers for Guede are likely to argue that the two sentences are incompatible, forcing a revision of his conviction. Speaking from prison in Viterbo, where he is described as 'a model prisoner' Guede claimed that his conviction is rendered 'impossible' by the exoneration of Knox and ex boyfriend Sollecito. He said: 'Look at me: I committed the impossible crime. How can I be the accomplice in a murder without any accomplices? ' Guede who is now halfway through his sentence said: 'I want a retrial.' He said his lawyers are waiting for the reasoning behind the innocent sentence of the Supreme Court, to be published which will be within 90 days of the Knox verdict. 'I am convinced that we will find elements to overturn the verdict,' he said. Cleared: Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito served four years for Meredith Kercher's murder before being conclusively cleared by Italy's highest court last month . Tragic: Meredith Kercher was found half-naked with her throat slit in the cottage she shared with  Knox . Already the overturning of Knox and Sollecito's guilty sentences has left the Kercher family 'shocked' and with many unanswered questions. If Guede too were absolved, on a judicial technicality, it would leave no one paying for their daughter's murder. The Italian justice system is currently being overhauled because of its cost, contradictions and inefficiency. It has a backlog of around nine million legal cases. The Supreme Court, which hears 80,000 appeals a year, 100 times more than comparable countries, upholds only a fraction of convictions. The state were forced to pay €84million in compensation for miscarriages of justice and legal delays in 2011. Raffaele Sollecito (centre) speaks during a press conference in Rome flanked by his lawyers Giulia Bongiorno (left) and Luca Maori after being acquitted of murdering British student Meredith Kercher last month . Amanda Knox vowed to return to Italy just two days after being cleared of murdering British student Meredith Kercher. She is pictured (left) speaking after last month's decision and (right) after her initial acquittal in 2011 . Guede, who lives on a wing for violent sex offenders said that Knox and Sollecito had been 'fortunate'. But he told La Repubblica newspaper that the granting of their appeals had given him fresh hope. He said: 'Destiny has been less kind to me but I will not lament. Today I have a new reason to go on.' The 29-year-old, who came to Italy from Agou in Cote-d'Ivoire aged 7, has almost finished a degree in history from Rome Tre university. Once freed he wants to find a job in Italy and move forward. 'I want to prove to everyone that I am not a monster and forget my past. ' He said his only mistake was to opt for a fast track trial. He said: 'Here in Italy the fast track trial is seen as an admission of guilt. But I thought I would be able to prove my innocence straight away. ' Guede is eligible for day release this year.
target: Rudy Guede, 29, is currently serving a 16-year sentence for the murder .
  Ivorian says he will now seek a retrial after seeing Amanda Knox cleared .
  Knox and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito served four years for the murder .
  But the pair were sensationally cleared by Italy's highest court last month .