The first of a four-part crime story based on a real event is airing on Channel 4 tonight (Monday, May 20). The series gives a fascinating account of a man who awoke from a Covid coma to discover that the police had identified him as a fugitive from justice and one of America’s most wanted criminals. But what is the truth? True Crime on Channel 4 invites viewers into the entangled world of Nicholas Rossi, also known as Arthur Knight.
The one-off documentary entitled Imposter: The Man Who Came Back from the Dead, explores: "Who is Arthur Knight, a bookish nice guy just woke up from a coma? Or Nicholas Rossi in disguise - a sexually aggressive narcissist and one of America's most wanted?" Nicholas Rossi is alleged to have faked his own death and pretended to be an Irish orphan called Arthur Knight in an effort to avoid extradition to the US over a rape charge in 2008. But he came to the attention of the authorities after he became ill with Covid and was taken to a Glasgow hospital in December 2021. READ MORE: The beautiful baby girl who died at the hands of someone meant to care for her It was then that he was arrested in connection with an allegation of rape in Utah in 2008.
In his court appearances in 2022 in Scotland, he maintained he was Arthur Knight and that he was a victim of mistaken identity. But at Glasgow Sheriff Court in July 2022, prosecutor Julie Clark told the court “fingerprints taken when he was arrested for this matter were confirmed to be Nicholas Rossi�.
