The extradition of US fugitive Nicholas Rossi could face delays as police quiz him over an alleged rape in the UK. Essex Police are making arrangements to question the conman at HMP Edinburgh, where he has been held while fighting the bid to return him to the US, where he was charged with two rapes and one sexual assault.
We revealed how food blogger Michelle Minnaar claimed she had been raped by Rossi after meeting him on a dating website in 2017. If charged, UK court proceedings would take precedence over the extradition process.
A source said: “Police don’t want to keep this guy in the UK any longer than need be but the facts are that if he is formally charged with the rape in Essex then the whole thing stops. The Essex case would take priority. If it goes to trial and then a conviction, you are potentially looking at years of delays.”
The Scottish Courts Service confirmed that by law any extradition “would have to wait until the domestic criminal matter concluded”.
In June we told how Michelle, 41, claimed Rossi attacked her at her home in Essex after they had met online. She claimed he spent more than £3000 of her money and forced her to have sex with him.
Rossi went on to meet his wife Miranda online and seven days after the marriage in Bristol in February 2020, he faked his death in Rhode Island to avoid the police probe. In 2021, the couple moved to Glasgow, where Rossi caught Covid. He was then arrested on an Interpol warrant in a Glasgow hospital.
Rossi claims he is unable to breathe without extra oxygen and needs a wheelchair but in court, medical reports said there is no issue with his lungs. The conman is fighting extradition and claims he is Arthur Knight, a different person who was born in Ireland and has not been to the US.
That was dismissed at Glasgow Sheriff Court in July where he was convicted of abusing two hospital staff after fingerprints proved he is Nicholas Rossi, also known as Nicholas Alahverdian.
He’s making an appeal to be granted bail so he can return to the flat in Glasgow that he rents with Miranda. Essex Police confirmed its investigation in the rape allegation against Rossi was ongoing.
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