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 'tummy is large'. 

Mr Rossi, 36, was deported to the United States in January after spending two years fighting extradition from Scotland. His claims of mistaken identity were rejected by Scottish judges.

In a bizarre interview at his Glasgow flat before his extradition, Mr Rossi's wife Miranda told how they had gone to see the stage play of The Gruffalo and how she had likened him to the monster in Julia Donaldson's children's book.   

Mr Rossi, who appeared throughout his court dates in the UK in a motorised wheelchair and using a oxygen mask, still maintains he is an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight.

He appeared before 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 'large tummy' 

Mr Rossi departs 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 he awoke from a medically induced coma in a Covid ward at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in December 2021 and was subsequently arrested. 

It is alleged he raped a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, and a 26-year-old woman in Salt Lake County, both in 2008 - for which he faces the prospect of life in prison.  

Today The Sunday Times published an interview with Mr Rossi in 2022 before his extradition, where he told the newspaper how his wife 'calls me the Gruffalo, or Gruff'.

'It's because my tummy is large,' he said.

During the surreal exchange, devout Christian Miranda likened herself to 'the swift fox with the red hair' and revealed how the couple had gone to see the stage play together. 

'He [The Gruffalo] is actually the one that is being manipulated,' Mr Rossi said. 

'The real villain is the mouse.'

Under the guise of Arthur Brown, Rossi is believed to have met his wife, Miranda Knight, in Bristol in 2019 and married her in early 2020, assuming the name Arthur Knight.

They moved to Glasgow shortly afterwards but in 2021, Rossi became so ill with Covid that he had to be hospitalised at the city's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

In 2019, Rossi claimed he had been diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and is accused of faking his death a year later (pictured in 2008 in Utah)

He faces charges related to the sexual assault of a woman in Orem, Utah, nearly 16 years ago. Rossi faces another felony rape charge in Salt Lake County and multiple other complaints

The 36-year-old, pictured in a mugshot from a 2010 arrest, fled to Scotland after being identified as a suspect in a 2008 rape case

During his first US court appearance, Rossi wore an oxygen mask and spoke in a British accent, as he has done at previous court appearances overseas

She insisted to The Times 'she wouldn't choose somebody that was a rapist' and he is and he is 'kind, thoughtful and loving'.

In July 2020, DNA allegedly linked him to a 2008 rape in Utah which is ultimately what led to his discovery in Scotland.

He was arrested on December 13, 2021 at the Glasgow hospital by police officers who served him with an Interpol red notice.

Mr Rossi also goes by the aliases Nick Alahverdian, Nick Alan, Nicholas Brown and Arthur Brown.

He stirred up confusion during his first court appearance in the US in January as he continued to speak in a British accent throughout the hearing and sported an oxygen mask that made it difficult to understand what he was saying.

He is still awaiting trial in jail in Utah.  

There has never been an official version of events from Rossi because he continues to insist he is Arthur Knight and that the authorities have the wrong man.

In one interview with Dateline, Rossi is seen speaking in what appears to be an English accent and he angrily insists he is a British man called Arthur Knight.

He also theatrically tried standing to prove that he was unable to walk before throwing himself back down.

Rossi appeared alongside his wife British wife, Miranda who shouted: ‘Woah’, before trying to stabilize him

'I am not Nicholas Alahverdian. I do not know how to make this 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 under which he is accused of living after fleeing the U.S.

In court appearances, he has maintained his pained English accent, with an Irish lilt whenever he mentions the word Dublin, where he claims to have been born.

Miranda, who still lives in Britain, has continued to stand by her husband's side since he was first arrested in December 2021.

'I'm here with Arthur,' she told the Daily Record in February. 'I know my husband, I love my husband, and he's always been the perfect gentleman to me and he's always wanted the best for me.

'I know what I've read about this other person,' she continued. 'The claims and what he's done is black and white to who I'm married to.'