A Scottish court has heard that fingerprints have confirmed the identity of a man at the centre of a US extradition request on a rape charge.

US authorities want the Scottish courts to extradite the man they say is Nicholas Rossi, wanted for an alleged rape in Utah in 2008.

The man in question lives in Glasgow and insists that his name is, in fact, Arthur Knight.

He says he has never set foot in the United States.

A Sheriff in Glasgow has now been told that fingerprints taken from him were confirmed to be those of Nicholas Rossi.

The details were revealed as he appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court on a charge of acting aggressively towards staff at a hospital in the city.

It’s alleged that he shouted, swore, lunged at and pursued a consultant and senior charge nurse at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital on Tuesday 5 July.

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He pled not guilty.

‘He has at least 10 aliases’

In opposing the 34 year-old’s submission for bail, prosecutor Julie Clark said: “He appears today as Arthur Knight but has previously been identified by medical professionals and civilians as Nicholas Rossi.

“He has at least 10 aliases and is known in the US as Nicholas Rossi or Alahverdian and speaks in an American accent.

“He is known by his wife’s family as Nicholas Brown and speaks in an Irish accent.

“He is recorded at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital as Arthur Winston Brown and identified himself on Tuesday as Arthur Knight and speaks in an English accent.

“Fingerprints taken when he was arrested for this matter were confirmed to be Nicholas Rossi.”

Rossi ‘attempted to convince investigators he was dead’

Nicholas Rossi is wanted in connection with the rape of a 21-year-old woman in Utah in September 2008 and is also alleged to have assaulted women in Rhode Island, Ohio and Massachusetts.

Authorities in Utah say he fled the US to avoid prosecution and attempted to convince investigators he was dead.

Arthur Knight has been living in Glasgow with his wife Miranda since late last year.

An Interpol ‘red notice’ was issued for the arrest of Nicholas Rossi and he was identified as the fugitive after being admitted to hospital with COVID.

He appeared at the hearing in Glasgow Sheriff Court in a wheelchair, wearing an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose.

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Prosecutor Julie Clark said: “The Crown have received a number of medical reports from doctors involved in his care which state there is no concern related to his lungs.

“The description of seizures given by those who have witnessed them were satisfied they were otherwise faked.

“Extensive enquiries established that he travelled to Dublin from the USA in 2017 but there was no record of him entering the UK.

“He was involved in a relationship with a UK national. He then found another relationship and married in February 2020 using the name Nicholas Brown, which is on the marriage certificate.”

“It is not known how he made it to Scotland but he was in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital being treated for COVID.”

Setting a trial date for 19 August, Sheriff Gerard MacMillan decided against bail.

He said: “There are possibilities that I have to take into account and there is a possibility that you may abscond or fail to appear at a hearing – there is a substantial risk of that.”

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