The brother-in-law of a US fugitive believes he’s trying to delay a court case which could kick him out of Scotland.
Convicted sex offender Nicholas Rossi is due at an extradition hearing to return him to the US, where he ran from rape charges before faking his own death.
But the case has been delayed several times, with a date set for last Friday now rescheduled for next month.
Kevin Knight, whose sister Miranda Knight wed Rossi in February 2020 after he fled to the UK, thinks the delays are a deliberate ploy to frustrate the court.
He said: “It gets adjourned again and adjourned again and, before you know it, six months have passed.
“We’re just waiting for this to happen and then see it put off again – why does he keep asking? We seem to get to nearly the day and then it is carried on.”
Kevin, 46, of Bristol, who’s lost contact with Miranda since Rossi’s secret life emerged, added: “They need to get the DNA evidence on the table which proves he is the man wanted in America.
“He’s got to go back and face the music. I think he’ll try to cancel the case again and say he’s sick.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Court Service confirmed the new date for the full extradition hearing is July 7.
It’s understood Rossi – who claims he needs a wheelchair and oxygen mask after having Covid – has said he has health problems and has struggled to get a legal team to represent him. It emerged last week he has launched a £25,000 Gofundme campaign to pay his legal fees.
Rossi, a US citizen who is also known as Nicholas Alahverdian, faked his own death in Rhode Island in February 2020 after fleeing to the UK, where he was caught last year.
He married Bristol-born Miranda, 41, who met him online. At the time, his marriage certificate shows Rossi called himself Nicholas Brown. There’s no suggestion Miranda has broken the law.
Just seven days after the wedding, Rossi staged his own death in America.
Rossi is facing claims he raped a 21-year-old in Orem, Utah, in 2008.
He was caught by police at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital last December.
In 2008 Nicholas was convicted of attacking a student in Dayton, Ohio.
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