Raffaele Sollecito today described his murder acquittal as a 'rebirth' but said his 'heart and soul will be marked for life' after being accused of killing British student Meredith Kercher. Mr Sollecito, 31, also said the new, final ruling will allow him to move on from his past, and his association with ex-girlfriend Amanda Knox. He said he now wants to be 'detached' from the 27-year-old American. The Italian and his ex-lover were both sensationally cleared on Friday, bringing an end to a see-sawing legal process which spanned more than seven years and saw them both serve four years in prison. Scroll down for video . Raffaele Sollecito (centre) speaks during a press conference in Rome flanked by his lawyers Giulia Bongiorno (left) and Luca Maori after he was acquitted last week of murdering British student Meredith Kercher . Raffaele Sollecito (right) flanked by his lawyer Giulia Bongiorno, talks to the media during a press conference in Rome. He described the ruling as an 'end to the nightmare' Speaking to NBC's Today show after the ruling, Sollecito said that having his brief relationship with Knox played out repeatedly in public had scarred him. He said: 'All the people talking about my relationship with her took me psychologically down, I don't want it. 'I just want to be detached from this kind of bond.' When asked about his feelings towards Miss Knox, whom he has not spoken to in around a year, Mr Sollecito said: 'I'm very happy for her - I really believe in her innocence. I believe now justice has been done.' When asked whether the two would ever meet again, he said that it was too soon to say. Speaking later at a press conference in Rome, Mr Sollecito described the ruling as an 'end to the nightmare'. He spent four years in prison before being freed in 2011, said he wanted to get back to his old life after enduring over seven years of 'a kind of pain without an end'. 'Air of freedom': Sollecito told NBC's Kelly Cobiella, left, that he is looking forward to moving on with his life, and his indelible association with Miss Knox . He added: 'My heart and soul will be marked for life. This wound will never stop bleeding, it will never heal. 'I have got an infinite list of horrible moments. Seven years and five months is an incredibly long time when you're suffering, when you're living an unbearable tragedy.' Mr Sollecito, who was originally convicted with his then girlfriend Miss Knox, explained how a call from his sister late on Friday night provided the news he had been hoping for. He said: 'The most beautiful moment without a doubt was the one that put an end to the nightmare, the call from my sister after the reading of the sentence and the total acquittal from the High Court.' He said: 'I feel today as though I am a prisoner who after seven years and five months has found freedom again. 'I am coming back to the life which I hope will be my life from now on, coming back to my normal existence, to live like a boy of my age without having to have any worries anymore.' Arline Kercher, Meredith's mother, described the ruling on Friday night as 'odd'. She said: '(I am) a bit surprised, and very shocked, but that is about it at the moment. 'They have been convicted twice so it's a bit odd that it should change now.' 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 Friday's decision and (right) after her initial acquittal in 2011 . Her daughter, who was 21 and from Coulsdon, Surrey, was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in her bedroom in 2007 while studying in Perugia, Italy. Miss Knox told reporters outside her family home in Seattle on the day of the verdict that she was 'full of joy'. 'Right now I'm still absorbing what all this means and what comes to mind is my gratitude for the life that's been given to me,' she said. Miss Knox, 27, who was Ms Kercher's flat-mate and a student from Seattle, and Mr Sollecito, spent four years in jail for the murder but were acquitted on appeal in 2011. Miss Knox returned to the U.S. before an appeal court threw out the acquittal and reinstated her and Mr Sollecito's guilty verdicts last year. But Italy's highest court on Friday overturned last year's convictions and declined to order another trial. Yesterday, it emerged that Miss Knox could receive millions in compensation after being cleared. Knox, who served four years in prison after being convicted of the murder of Kercher (left) alongside ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito (right) in 2007, 'loves' Italy, her lawyer said . Two days after being acquitted, she vowed to return to Italy - just two days after being cleared of murdering the British woman while living in the country. It is also understood that Knox - who was reportedly paid £2.7million ($4million) for her 2013 book Waiting to Be Heard - will write about the country's judicial system while she is there. Both Knox and Sollecito are reportedly planning to seek compensation for time wrongly spent in prison. While no figures have been revealed, compensation for such cases regularly run into seven figure sums. Carlo Dalla Vedova, her Italian lawyer, confirmed Miss Knox will 'be seeking compensation for wrongful imprisonment,' according to The Telegraph. Mr Sollecito's father Francesco told the newspaper: 'You could hardly quantify a compensation figure, it has been such an awful business.' Mr Dalla Vedova added Miss Knox will go back to Italy after spending some time with her family in America. 'She loves Italy. She always says she wants to come back,' The Sunday Times reported Mr Dalla Vedova as saying. 'Certainly she will be back in Italy, she always liked Italy, that's why she came here.' A view of the house where British student Kercher was killed. It is understood Knox will go back to Italy to write a book about the country's legal system . Knox and Sollecito were pictured embracing as police searched the house immediately after Kercher's death . Knox breaks down in tears after hearing the verdict that overturned her original conviction and acquitted her in October 2011 . Mr Vedova was speaking after Knox and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, now 31, were cleared of murdering her former roommate. The decision by the Supreme Court of Cassation is the final ruling in the seven-year case and definitively ends the gruelling legal battle. The pair always maintained their innocence. Shortly after the verdict, Knox, who previously said she would never willingly return to Italy, released a statement. It said she was 'tremendously relieved and grateful' and knowing she was innocent gave her 'strength in the darkest times of this ordeal'. She added: 'Throughout this ordeal, I have received invaluable support from family, friends and strangers. To them, I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your kindness has sustained me.' Sollecito discovered his conviction had been overturned when his lawyer called him from outside court with the news, exclaiming: 'You have your whole life ahead of you now, Raf.' Both Sollecito and Knox were imprisoned shortly after Kercher's body was discovered with 47 separate wounds on November 1, 2007. Knox talks on her mobile phone from her mother's Seattle home just moments after hearing Friday's news. After the verdict she said she was 'tremendously relieved and grateful' and knowing she was innocent gave her 'strength in the darkest times of this ordeal' They were originally convicted of murder and sexual assault in December 2009 and sentenced to 26 and 25 years in jail respectively. But after they served four years in prison a court in Perugia threw out their convictions and declared them innocent. Knox returned to the US before another U-turn in the sensational case in January last year when a court in Florence reinstated the original 2009 conviction and increased Knox's sentence to 28-and-a-half years. Judge Gennaro Marasca read the decision to finally acquit the pair on Friday after a judicial body had deliberated for ten hours. It was met with stunned silence. The pair could now seek compensation. Although the amount is not known it could reach up to seven figures. Rudy Guede is now the only person to be successfully convicted of the murder. The unemployed basketball player was found guilty in October 2008 and was convicted to 16 years after his footprints were discovered in Kercher's blood. The court will publish its reasons for Friday's decision within 90 days.
Italian, 31, says acquittal by judges last week brings 'end to the nightmare'
Said being accused of murder was a 'wound that will never stop bleeding'
He added he is 'glad' ex-lover Amanda Knox has been cleared . But said he wants to be 'detached', and that they have not spoken in a year . He and Knox now cleared of killing the British student in 2007 .