Court Man 'who faked own death' appears in court to face rape charge

THE trial has begun of an American who allegedly faked his own death, then married a woman from Bristol and said he was an Irish academic in a failed bid to avoid facing sex assault charges in the US.

- Hannah SCHOENBAUM

Nicholas Rossi was wanted in the US but maintained for almost two years that it was all a case of mistaken identity, and he was in fact an Irish orphan called Arthur Knight.

In 2021, Rossi - under the name Arthur Knight - got married in Bristol, and his wife Miranda, from Whitchurch, stuck by his side through his lengthy battle against extradition.

Rossi - whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian - is accused of sexually assaulting two women in Utah in 2008. Prosecutors are trying the cases separately, with the first set in Salt Lake County.

Rossi, 38, was extradited from Scotland to the US in January 2024 after a lengthy case in the Scottish courts.

He came to the attention of authorities when he was identified at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow in December 2021 while being treated for Covid-19 under the name Arthur Knight. He was arrested after being identified by his distinctive tattoos as a wanted person the US.

Months of court proceedings in Edinburgh followed but in November 2022, Sheriff Norman McFadyen determined the man claiming to be Knight was indeed Rossi.

An extradition hearing took place in June 2023, with Sheriff McFadyen ruling there was no barrier to Rossi’s extradition.

An extradition warrant was signed in September 2023 and Rossi was finally sent to the US in January 2024.