Rape suspect Nicholas Rossi revealed his wife called him ‘The Gruffalo’ because his ‘tummy is large’ before he was extradited to the US after fleeing to Britain and claiming to be an Irish orphan
Rape suspect Nicholas Rossi, who is suspected of faking his own death before being extradited to the US, says his wife calls him ‘The Gruffalo’ because his ‘belly is big’.
Rossi, 36, was deported to the United States in January after fighting extradition from Scotland for two years. His claims of mistaken identity were rejected by Scottish judges.
In a bizarre interview at his flat in Glasgow before his extradition, Rossi’s wife Miranda told how they had gone to see The Gruffalo play and how she had compared him to the monster from Julia Donaldson’s children’s book.
Mr Rossi, who appeared at his court hearings in Britain in a motorized wheelchair and wearing an oxygen mask, still claims he is an Irish orphan called Arthur Knight.
He appeared in Utah’s Fourth District Court in February charged with rape and is still awaiting trial in jail.
Nicholas Rossi, 36, who claims to be Irish orphan Arthur Knight, with his wife Miranda who calls him the Gruffalo because of his ‘big belly’
Mr Rossi leaves Edinburgh Sheriff Court after his US extradition hearing in July 2023. He was deported to the US in January this year
He was caught after waking from a medically induced coma in a Covid ward at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow in December 2021 and was subsequently arrested.
It is alleged that he raped a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, and a 26-year-old woman in Salt Lake County in 2008, for which he faces a life sentence.
Today The Sunday times published an interview with Mr Rossi in 2022 before his extradition, in which he told the newspaper how his wife calls me ‘the Gruffalo or Gruff’.
“It’s because my belly is big,” he said.
During the surreal chat, devout Christian Miranda compared himself to ‘the quick fox with the red hair’ and revealed how the couple had gone to the play together.
‘He [The Gruffalo] is actually the one being manipulated,β Mr. Rossi said.
“The real bad guy is the mouse.”
Under the guise of Arthur Brown, Rossi is said to have met his wife, Miranda Knight, in Bristol in 2019 and married her in early 2020, using the name Arthur Knight.
They moved to Glasgow shortly afterwards, but in 2021 Rossi became so ill with Covid that he had to be admitted to the city’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
In 2019, Rossi claimed he was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and was accused of faking his death a year later (pictured in 2008 in Utah)
He is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Orem, Utah, nearly 16 years ago. Rossi is facing another rape charge in Salt Lake County and multiple other complaints
The 36-year-old, pictured in a police photo from a 2010 arrest, fled to Scotland after being identified as a suspect in a 2008 rape case.
During his first appearance in US court, Rossi wore an oxygen mask and spoke with a British accent, as he has done in previous court hearings abroad.
She insisted to The Times ‘that she would not choose someone who was a rapist’ and he is, and he is ‘kind, thoughtful and loving’.
In July 2020, DNA reportedly linked him to a 2008 rape in Utah, ultimately leading to his discovery in Scotland.
He was arrested in Glasgow hospital on 13 December 2021 by police officers who served him with an Interpol red warrant.
Mr. Rossi also goes by the aliases Nick Alahverdian, Nick Alan, Nicholas Brown and Arthur Brown.
He caused confusion during his first appearance in the US in January, continuing to speak with a British accent during the hearing and wearing an oxygen mask that made it difficult to understand what he was saying.
He is still awaiting trial in Utah prison.
There has never been an official version of events from Rossi, as he continues to insist that he is Arthur Knight and that the authorities have the wrong man.
In an interview with Dateline, Rossi is seen speaking with an apparent English accent and angrily insists that he is a British man named Arthur Knight.
He also tried to get up theatrically to prove he couldn’t walk before throwing himself back to the ground.
Rossi appeared next to his British wife Miranda, who shouted: “Woah” before trying to stabilize him
βI’m not Nicholas Alahverdian. I don’t know how to make this any clearer,” he told NBC in a bizarre accent, muffled by an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose.
Rossi, whose real name is Nicholas Alahverdian, made his first court appearance in February after his extradition to the United States a month earlier
The 36-year-old identified himself as Arthur Knight Brown, the name he would live by after fleeing the US.
During court hearings he has retained his painful English accent, with an Irish accent whenever he mentions the word Dublin, where he claims to have been born.
Miranda, who still lives in Britain, has continued to support her husband since he was first arrested in December 2021.
βI’m here with Arthur,β she told the Daily Record in February. βI know my husband, I love my husband, and he has always been the perfect gentleman to me and he has always wanted the best for me.
βI know what I read about this other person,β she continued. βThe claims and what he has done are black and white to who I married.β