Rape suspect Nicholas Rossi, who faces charges in the US, has been extradited from Scotland

It's now over to the American courts to decide on Nicholas Rossi's future, ITV News' Sharon Frew reports

Fugitive Nicholas Rossi, who faces charges in the US, has been extradited from Scotland, according to reports.

Rossi, 35, is wanted in the US for allegedly raping a woman in Utah in 2008 and also faces domestic abuse charges.

Scottish ministers signed an order in September last year giving permission for Rossi, 36, to be extradited, following a lengthy case in the Scottish courts.

Rape suspect accused of faking own death can be extradited to US
Who is rape suspect Nicholas Rossi?
Nicholas Rossi with his wife Miranda Knight. Credit: PA

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said on Friday: “We assisted partner agencies with the extradition of a 36-year-old man.”

Rossi is alleged to have faked his own death before hiding out in Scotland. He claimed to be an Irish orphan and a victim of mistaken identity named Arthur Knight.

He was arrested in Scotland in December 2021, but authorities first had to prove he was the wanted fugitive rather than Arthur Knight.

A sheriff found he was Nicholas Rossi, and the appeal against extradition was dismissed in December, paving the way for him to be removed from the country.

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “We assisted partner agencies with the extradition of a 36-year-old man.”

Rossi was born Nicholas Alahverdian on July 11, 1987, in Rhode Island, in the US.

Rossi was identified by his tattoos.

In 2008, while living in Ohio, Nicholas Rossi sexually assaulted a young woman called Mary at a college campus after meeting online.

This put Rossi on the US sex offender's register, his DNA and fingerprints were now stored on a national database. 

Nicholas Rossi allegedly died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on February 29, 2020. An obituary appeared on his website, seemingly written by himself.

In reality, it is believed he moved to the UK in 2017 where he adopted his Irish orphan story.

GP records from the UK showed he'd used the name Nicholas Brown, then Nicholas Knight Brown, followed by Arthur Winston Knight Brown, and most recently omitting Brown.

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