The torment of a man told his daughter has been murdered has been detailed by the father of Coulsdon student Meredith Kercher.

John Kercher, a former journalist, is set to publish his 304 page book, Meredith: Our Daughter's Murder and the Heartbreaking Quest for the Truth, later this month.

It comes six months after Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were acquitted of her murder.

21-year-old Meredith, in her final year at Leeds University, travelled to Perugia, Italy in September 2007 but was discovered dead two months later in a shared flat.

Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito were first convicted of the murder, but acquitted on appeal in October last year.

In the book Mr Kercher, who has previously published work on music stars such as Michael Jackson, explains how he first discovered his daughter was dead when called by a national media journalist.

He writes: "I hadn't been able to get through to Meredith on her mobile, which was very unusual, but I tried to keep calm by telling myself the victim couldn't possibly be Meredith.

"The call eventually came from the foreign desk of the Mirror newspaper, from a young girl I hadn't spoken to before. That call ended my world as I knew it..."

His book will be published at least six months before a controversial memoir from American Knox, which is expected to focus on her time in custody in Perugia, Italy.

Mr Kercher’s book, billed as "a father's story of losing a beloved daughter, and the first account of the torment the family have suffered and their ongoing quest for justice." is expected to act as a celebration of his daughter’s life.

Meredith: Our Daughter's Murder and the Heartbreaking Quest for the Truth is due out on April 26.