Nicholas Rossi: fingerprint match on alleged fugitive

A court has heard that all 10 fingerprints taken from a man calling himself Arthur Knight were a match for wanted fugitive Nicholas Rossi.

A fingerprint specialist told Edinburgh Sheriff Court that the prints identically matched those included in an Interpol Red Notice for Mr Rossi.

The evidence was heard at a hearing to identify the man believed by US authorities to be Mr Rossi.

The alleged fugitive claims he is the victim of mistaken identity.

The 35-year-old, who claims to be called Arthur Knight, has been fighting extradition since his arrest last year.

US authorities say the man is Nicholas Rossi, who is wanted for raping a 21-year-old in Utah, and for attacks on other women.

He arrived at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in a wheelchair chained to custody officers.

Since his arrest in December there have been a number of preliminary hearings which saw the man fire six lawyers and claim he was being tortured in prison.

Asked at the beginning of the hearing if he was Nicholas Rossi or Arthur Knight, he replied: “Arthur Knight.”

His lawyer, Mungo Bovey KC, proceeded to tell the court of multiple issues concerning legal proceedings with regard to his client.

One of these included complaints that some information from a solicitor for the man “seems to be misconstrued by the sheriff”.

He told the court there were legal concerns over the way the warrant for the man’s arrest was issued, and claims his client did not receive the provisional arrest certificate (PAC) after his arrest in December.

Advocate depute Paul Harvey, however, disputed this, claiming action from previous sheriffs had been what was required of them, and that the man had received the PAC.

Sheriff Norman McFadyen adjourned the hearing until Monday afternoon to address the lawyers’ submissions.