US fugitive Nicholas Rossi jailed for raping two women

A US fugitive who faked his own death then adopted a false identity in an attempt to avoid being extradited from Scotland has been jailed for a second time for rape.

Nicholas Rossi, 38, was found guilty of raping two women in Utah in 2008 after two separate trials earlier this year.

He has been ordered to serve two sentences of between five years and life consecutively.

Rossi's attempts to evade justice after being arrested in the Covid ward of a Glasgow hospital in 2021 led to a worldwide fascination with his case.

Staff had recognised his mugshot and distinctive tattoos from an Interpol wanted notice - but he claimed to be an Irish-born orphan called Arthur Knight, who had never been to America.

Rossi was jailed in Utah after being found guilty of rape

He gave an interview to the BBC, where he maintained his story - but could not produce a birth certificate or a passport.

Rossi continued to insist at a series of court hearings - which he usually attended in an electric wheelchair, wearing an oxygen mask, hat and three-piece suit - that he was the victim of mistaken identity.

He was finally extradited to the US in January 2024, more than a year after a Scottish court had ruled that he was indeed Nicholas Rossi.

He was convicted in separate trials in August and September this year of raping two women in Utah in 2008.

The state has indeterminate sentencing, which is given in a range of years rather than a fixed number.

Rossi was arrested in Glasgow in 2021 after being identified by hospital staff

In the first case, in Salt Lake City, the judge said that term should range from five years to life in prison.

In the second case, in Utah County, the judge also sentenced Rossi to between five years and life - and ruled that the jail term should begin at the end of the first sentence.

As he has been handed consecutive sentences BBC Scotland News understands Rossi must serve the first minimum jail term and 40% of the second minimum term.

That would mean he must spend at least seven years in prison before he is eligible for parole.

The court in Utah County heard impact statements from Rossi's two victims, who spoke emotionally about how his crimes had devastated their lives.

The women described the ongoing impact of their trauma and said Rossi was "a danger to society".

Rossi also addressed the judge, claiming both women were lying and saying he would lodge an appeal.

His defence asked for the sentence in the second case to run at the same time as the first jail term.

But Stephen Jones, deputy Utah County attorney, argued that it should run after the sentence imposed in Salt Lake City.

He highlighted that Rossi had made 4,498 calls to his wife from prison in Utah - 344 of them using other prisoners' accounts.

He said this was a violation of prison policy and an example of Rossi's manipulation.

Mr Jones said Rossi had been able to "talk his way out of almost anything" for 18 years – until he was finally "held accountable" in Salt Lake.

Judge Derek Pullan said Rossi was a serial sex offender and a danger to others.

Rossi attended a series of court hearings in Scotland during the extradition process

Born Nicholas Alahverdian in Rhode Island in 1987, Rossi spent time in care as a teenager and went on to become a child welfare campaigner.

Reports of his death emerged in 2020, but the authorities suspected Rossi had fled to the UK after discovering that the FBI were investigating an alleged credit card fraud.

His online footprint ultimately led police to the hospital in Glasgow, where he was identified by staff.

Rossi insisted that he had been given his distinctive tattoos while he was lying unconscious in the hospital in an attempt to frame him.

He sacked several lawyers before a sheriff eventually ruled in 2023 that he was Nicholas Rossi, and that his mistaken identity claim was "implausible" and fanciful".

He was flown back to America in January 2024 after failing to overturn the decision. Several months later, he admitted his real identity during a bail hearing in Salt Lake City.