Arrested man in Scotland is missing US fugitive, court rules
A man in Scotland, who had been fighting extradition to the US, has been confirmed by a Scottish court, as being the missing US fugitive Nicholas Rossi.
Nicholas Rossi, 35, claims he is Arthur Knight, an orphan from Ireland – who has never been to the US. But on Friday, Edinburgh sheriff court determined that he is the American who US authorities are searching for in relation to two rape allegations and one allegation of sexual assault.
He had been arrested in October after checking into a hospital in Glasgow with Covid-19.
He is alleged to have faked his own death in the US and fled to Scotland to evade prosecution.
It has been concluded that he is Rossi after comparing his tattoos with pictures of Rossi on an Interpol red notice as well as matching his fingerprints with records.
He claims his fingerprints have been meddled with and he was tattooed whilst unconscious in hospital.
Speaking at the hearing to establish Rossi’s identity, the sheriff, Norman McFadyen, said: “I am ultimately satisfied on the balance of probabilities, by the evidence of fingerprint, photographic and tattoo evidence, taken together, supported by the evidence of changes of name, that Mr Knight is indeed Nicholas Rossi, the person sought for extradition by the United States.”
He dismissed Rossi’s claim that his fingerprints were taken from him by an NHS worker called Patrick on behalf of prosecutors in the US while he was in intensive care.
He said: “I have no valid or coherent reason to doubt that the prints examined were those provided by the US authorities and that these are, as they assert, prints of Nicholas Rossi who is charged in their proceedings, and I reject Mr Knight’s explanation as to how his prints came to be taken while he was in hospital … as implausible and fanciful.”
