1 | Dinner with a Fugitive

You're listening to "I am not Nicholas," an audible original.

“Episode 1, dinner with a fugitive, in which we meet our host, Jane Maksoli.”

So, every morning, without fail, it's usually when I'm sitting down, having a breakfast or having a cup of tea in the morning. "I always look at the news online, always. So I start off with a national news, I then go to Scotland, because that's where I'm living, then I go to Northern Ireland, because that's where I'm from, so that's always what I do every morning." I saw this story on the Saturday, and it was American fugitive who fixed our final live in Glasgow. A man arrested on a Covid ward and a Glasgow hospital accused by U.S. authorities of being a fugitive who faked his own death to fake justice.

As soon as I saw the story, I mean, it grabbed my interest straight away. American prosecutors say Nicholas Rossi is wanted on a rape charge and Utah, but the man at the centre of the ex-redition process claims it's a mistake and is challenging them to prove his identity. It was stranger than fiction, and it was effectively on my doorstep. The extradition process was triggered when police arrested a Covid patient in this hospital in December. They say he's Nicholas Rossi.

He says he's an Irish orphan called Arthur Knight and is a victim of mistaken identity.

He says they're wrong, but he's never been to America.

And I thought, "I'm doing this story. I want to see what this is all about." I wanted to ask if you knew that they might have come out that lived here. I was seeing this as months and months of work.

“Hello, my name is Jane, Mike Sory. Did you have just a few minutes now?”

And it has become practically a year. You just don't know what's going to happen when somebody answers that door. Oh my god! Oh my god! He's not dead. No way. I knew he was still alive. I didn't write a way.

It was very strange. It was very strange. He would lock me in the upstairs bathroom.

All I had was the running water. He has never hurt me. Never touched me. He doesn't abuse me.

The case of mistaken identity in the war on earth is going on. It really is an unfortunate situation. I cannot get my head from the magnitude of this. It is beginning to become a store. Top of my list when I start work on the story in January 2022.

Is I want to see this man, Arthur Knight? Wow, he claims to be Arthur Knight, an innocent Irish man living in Glasgow. The U.S. authorities say he is really an American fugitive called Nicholas Rossi. I hear he's due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court a few days later for a bail hearing. The court is just a ten minute bike ride away from my house. And I'll be there.

It was just the most unbelievable sight. I was outside the courtroom. Arthur Knight is wheeled in. He was in a wheelchair. And he had burgundie pajamas on. He had a burgundie matching dressing gown. And he even had a burgundie cloth covering his entire head. So you could not see his face.

It was just like the burgundie mask on waves. And it socks on. It no slippers on.

So it was just that first image of him.

I was blown away. I was with a group of journalists and we're all looking at each other thinking.

“What on earth is this story? What on earth is this man all about?”

So then we all get into the courtroom. He's got at least two paramedics there. There must have been prison officers there. And Miranda his wife is there. And the cloth is gone from his head. Clearly Arthur Knight wasn't well. You know, he had COVID very badly. And he was in a lot of intensive care. He had a mask covering his nose on his mouth. He had oxygen going into his mask.

He's 34. He looks like he could be 64. He's small. He's rind. He's hunched over. He's got greasy, lank hair. He's got this beard that's peppered with gray. He's very pasty white. He's got these rind. Black John Lennon style glasses. He had complete disrespect for the court proceedings.

And shockingly, the sheriff, the sheriff, the judge.

And it started from the outset. He asks him, "Are you Nicholas Rossi?" And he said, "No, I'm Arthur Knight." And then he continued unabated. And then he was told off by the sheriff, at least twice, if not three or four times. Not surprisingly, the judge refuses to grant bail. So it's back off to prison for Arthur Knight. And for me, it's time to do what any old school journal does.

Door knocks. Hello. Can I just have a reward with your money? So the day after the court hearing, I drive the 50 miles from my house in Edinburgh to Glasgow.

And I hit the streets of the trendy woodlands area where Arthur Knight was living before his arrest.

Hello. Hi. I wonder if you can help me. My name's Jane. I'm a journalist, and I want to ask if you knew they, you know, the American man that lived here. I mean, it was a Saturday morning. So I said to my husband and my kids, "I'm a way today. I don't care what your plans are. I'm busy." Hello. My name's Jane. I'm a journalist. You didn't happen to know anything about the man that,

I mean, obviously it's all in the news. I try the local bar. Your man, Arthur Knight, came here.

“Yeah. So was he in during the day during the day during the day?”

Yeah, it was mostly sort of after lunch. Yeah, I was chatting with him. He was pretty, after lunch. Yeah, I'm a charge guy. He goes with his late-day job. I'm a kid of guys getting a opinion about everything. And it's all with you. They said that it's probably kind of the wind in Ireland. You knew him as, as who, what was his name to you? Arthur. Arthur, Arthur, mate.

Doorknocking. I love doorknocking. It's just the unknown. You know, you just don't know. You're either going to react. You don't know if you're going to get great information or no information. You know, I just see it as a challenge. I mean, any cold call is very difficult. You don't live on the street things. You don't know them. I recommend the things.

I'm always off the opinion that, you know, I will get something from the doorknocks.

And it's just trying to get them around you the moment that they answer the door. We want to be in the front for a couple of months. I turned up on a night at the building where Arthur lives. It's a tenement building and a tenement is very common in Scottish cities. It's basically a building that has apartments in an old Victorian stone building purposely built

for flats. I had no clue which doorbell to ring. Obviously, necklace drug Arthur was in custody, so I wasn't going to see him, but I was wondering if I was going to get to see the wife Miranda. There were about 10 or 12 buzzers. No names. Certainly no names saying night.

“Arthur and Miranda nothing like that. And I started buzzing bells. I think that's hope to”

go to somebody that's me in. Oh, you can't let me in, can you? If I could get in the man door, it's just, I would be really grateful. And I thought they probably would. And they did, they did. Thank you. I tried a few more of the neighboring flats. Hello. Sorry to bother you. My name's Jane. I'm a journalist. Do you know what? Did you know him at all? I did, because they're my close neighbors here. I thought they were a lovely

young couple from Bristol. They wanted to come up and say it all year and they were really nice. They were good neighbors. I have a new things that I've shocked and to be honest. And I even try ringing the bell of Arthur's flat in the hope. His wife Miranda will answer. There's somebody there who lives a dog there and somebody on to the door. All the curtains are closed. I'm getting pretty close to giving up. When I noticed someone outside Arthur and Miranda's flat.

Are you going in to see Miranda? Are you going in there? We get chatting. And I find out that this man is Arthur and Miranda's landlord. I have more new things. Me. When he moved in,

“when he moved in. Yeah. I think I know him more than he knows himself. Yeah. What do you want”

to know? We talk for a bit more and I'm aware that the landlord is a possible lead. A way to get in contact with Arthur. Can I just get your number please? I mean, I'll tell you. I mean, and then you'll have my number and I won't be ringing it. It's something long-term project. I swear to you, it's not for a newspaper tonight or tomorrow. You know, you can check me out, you know? 07. Yes. I get his number. Oh, just got into my car. That was a bit of a stroke of luck.

Mr. Sudd, the landlord for Arthur and his wife Miranda. And couldn't Mr. Sudd. Are there

We assumed that he would be in prison, but we got a tip that he was out.

“The sun newspaper has got wind of a surprising development. Their reporter Gordon Titt has heard”

Nicholas Stroke Arthur is back home in Glasgow. I just couldn't believe it because the prosecutor had said the week before on the record and court, she told him a significant flight risk. He's out. He's going to be at home. He's on bail. So I've got an email here from the court in Edinburgh. And this email relates to the bail that was granted to Nicholas Stroke Arthur. And it says, I can confirm that this hearing was in chambers and therefore a private hearing,

which was not open to the public or press to attend, which I mean, figures why the press,

we didn't find out about it. Many of these sort of bail hearings in Scotland tend to be private. So I'm really having to guess why they gave them bail. They maybe don't consider them such a flight risk now because we know he's not a well-man. Or else, do they have doubts that he's a fugitive or that he is Nicholas Rossi? But what is good is that he's going to be at home. All I need to do is contact Mr. Sude at his landlord. I've got his mobile number. I'll send him a text and I'll say,

you know, can you please pass on my number to Arthur Stroke Nicholas and let's hope that he will agree

“to meet me. I think it's a bit of a long shot and I'm not surprised that I don't get a reply.”

But a couple of days later, on Friday evening, I get a call from an unknown number. I pick it up and it's a woman with a strong Bristol accent introducing herself as Miranda Knight. Arthur's wife. What a moment. I can't quite believe it. Arthur is by her side and they have me on speakerphone. I don't record the call because they won't give me permission. But they're happy to talk. I can hear Miranda lie down clear, but I struggle to hear what Arthur

is saying with his oxygen mask on. Miranda interprets every nine then and it's not a short call. It's at least 30 minutes. Then there's a warm invitation extended. Come for dinner.

“I was very surprised to get an invite, Ryan for dinner and I think it might have been that”

the felt there's some connection with me on the phone when they were talking to me. And at the time when they were talking to me, I was at home with my mom and balfast. So the

new I was at Erish. I've always been taught by my mother. No matter what high-side goal to

ride for dinner, you know, I never go ride with like what we say in Northern Ireland with my arms the same length. You know, would always bring some sort of gift. So I thought it was very opportune while I was in balfast to say what can I bring over, given that he had said he'd lived in Ireland. Straight away, he said "Barry's tea bags" and "Title Smoky Beer" can crisp. "Title" is the name of the company that makes the crisps T, A, Y, T, O. But "Title" is a very well-known northern

Irish brand of crisps and they're also very popular in the south of Ireland. And they're also very popular in Irish bars in America. Before I can even get back from balfast, it hits me. This is no exclusive. A US news show features an interview with Arthur Knight and his wife Miranda. They're not the only ones they're talking to. Speaking through his oxygen mask, Arthur is protesting his innocence to any journalist who listen. Arthur wants everyone to know it's a case of mystic and

identity. The newspapers are reporting that Arthur Knight was confirmed as Nicolas Rossi partly due to the distinctive tattoos on his arms. So when Arthur Knight gives an interview to BBC Scotland, the reporter gives him the perfect opportunity to prove on camera that he's not Nicolas Rossi. "Is it worth seeing your left forearm? Because I mean, that tattoo had a, that picture had a tattoo on the left forearm. There." But Arthur refuses to take office jacket and roll up his sleeves.

"It's not a buzzer, I'm just exhausted." Perhaps he really is too tired. He's still in a wheelchair and clearly not well. But as a journalist,

And then it dawns on me. I've said that I'll have dinner with this man who, according to the US authorities,

is wanted for rip and for sexual assaults across the United States. And I'll be alone in his

“flat with just him and his wife Miranda. Good God. What if I caught myself in too?”

"Hi, Anis, it's Jane." "Hi, Jane. Hi. Hi." "I give my executive producer Anis." "I call." "You're actually going to go into here." "Yes, I am. I am. But I'm nervous because I don't know what to expect." "I think I'm quite sure about, you know, that I'm meeting Nicholas Rossi, that I'm not meeting who he says he is, which is Arthur Knight. But then there's a little bit of doubt, like maybe 1% 2% that he is Arthur Knight, that he isn't an American, that he's Irish, and that he's

only been in the British Isles. I mean, he's fighting this tooth and nail that he is Arthur Knight from Ireland. Between us, we work out a risk assessment. There's going to be a security guard on standby in a car, outside Nicholas, stroke Arthur's apartment. When I arrive in Glasgow, I meet Pete, my security backup. He's parked up on the street where Arthur and Miranda live. And he passes me the panic button hidden in the necklace. "Just keep it on your body. Keep it

around your person. If anything happens, it reflects on a challenge made out of the street through

the microphone. What do we say when you're in there is always like, try as best you can to keep

clear line of safety of the door to your entrance. Don't be left in the room on your own with the individual." I know these are all sort of sensible questions, but do you think

“do you think this will be a bit overkill or not necessarily? I think the think worst case scenario,”

especially with this alleged history of this gentleman. Well, I know absolutely, violent past, allegations are great. Exactly. As you can see, I'm parked approximately 20 meters or so from the actual flat. I've got direct eyes on to the flat. Inside of my vehicle, I have full of complement of med kit. So if the absolute worst case scenario does happen, I think it is all there available. Got a bit? Yes, go for it, go for it. But I do need to think of worst case. Thank you Pete, go

no, it's good to have you here. It is helpful because it is, I'm a wee bit apprehensive about this afternoon. Well, don't worry about anything as I say. I would just emphasize it. And when you are inside, do not be left with the individual. So I leave the safety of Pete's car,

“bringing with me the bag of Irish snacks for Arthur Stroke Nicholas, and I cross the road to their”

flat. Okay, here goes the meaning to the house. Oh, that's me in. So I had Tidal Smoky-Bick and crisps and Barry's tea bags and I also bought chocolate so I certainly didn't walk in with my

arms the same length. When I met Arthur Miranda for the very first time. Hello.

Arthur's wife Miranda, standing by the entrance into their flat. Hey, I'm Jane. Hello Miranda. This is the first time of being right up close to Miranda. She's pretty. She has long red hair, and she has a pale complexion. She's by my height, which is five-footed or so. And she, I would say she sort of lit 30s early 40s. She looks really well in her skirt and top. Can I just record us meet? Miranda checks with Arthur. He gives her the okay. Yes. Okay. Be very well. Thank you.

Miranda is a very friendly and warm woman, but there's something a bit too formal about her. The flat feels barely big enough for Arthur Miranda and their two dogs. Classic books line the shelves and their living room. The complete works of Shakespeare and the like. There are pictures of Britain's wartime prime minister Winston Churchill on the wall. Was of classical thinkers and a photograph of Arthur Miranda on their wedding day two years ago. Hello Arthur. How are you? It's very

nice to see. Arthur Strukt Nicholas is sitting in his wheelchair with his oxygen mask on. He's markedly dressed. You look very well. You're three-piece suit. You're both tired. You look great. So there's your small debate in crisps and your barris tea bags and some chocolates. Arthur says he grew up as an orphan in Ireland and then came over to England as a teenager.

had happened to me before with an interview. He's actually quoting our interview on his own device.

That hissing you can hear in the background is the sign of Arthur's oxygen tank. I was a bit taken aback when I saw him recording while I was recording. He was perhaps suspicious

“unsure of where I was coming from. Why don't you use my help? Do you use my help?”

Because I just booked him on the phone for maybe half an hour or 40 minutes and then I just rocked up to his house. So it was probably just you know it was actually a security for him that he was recording it as well. Have you recorded anything at all yourself after your story or like a diary? No. Not about this. Maybe do that. So I want to know your story. I want to

hear it all. I want to get to the bottom of it. Miranda tells me how her husband first got admitted

into hospital last autumn. So Arthur had been getting progressively ill after he contracted Covid. We were at about day 10. Both ill together with Covid and I started to notice that his breathing

“had changed. He wasn't eaten. He wasn't drinking. Something just didn't seem right.”

Just you know unsure of what was going to happen. You know any nine months previous to that I've lost my mum to Covid. So the relevance of what was happening was even worse because I knew what Covid could do and the damage it could do. Miranda says she called nine nine nine and an ambulance

was sent for Arthur. He gets checked into hospital and soon after he's put on the intensive care

ward. There is a really very strong chance that your husband's not going to survive and I sat there and I was in floods of tears. You know even though I knew it could be bad I didn't know it was going to be that bad. Arthur spends the next few weeks in the night of intensive care.

“Well they're telling me this I'm watching Arthur trying to make heads or tails of this man.”

I can't see his mouth because it's behind his mask but his eyes are looking straight at me. Keeping contact. It was months of ill really. You're all in a ventilator and only going to. Yep. And there's times out filled with the most terrifying dreams, night terrors concerning. Sorry. No you're okay. You're absolutely okay Arthur. Miranda tells me that when Arthur was in the coma she wasn't able to visit him.

I was I said to the nurse as I would like the phone to be taken over to him but by his ear because there's a lot of talk and research at the the senses of here in a still present when you're in a coma. So I would just spend you know 20 minutes, 30 minutes on the phone, just talking to him about our life, our dogs, the things we were at we had hoped for for the future and for him you know to find that little bit of reserve to keep going. We are very much a couple

we love being together. We love you know our time together and we don't spend a lot of time away from each other. So this was a big change. This was a big change for a big change for us. When Arthur comes out of the coma Miranda is a lie to visit him in hospital. He's still very unwell though and the after effects of such a serious case of COVID-19 can linger but at least Arthur has her five-thous brush with death and they can look forward to his return home

and some sort of normality but then one day when Arthur is lying in his hospital bed with Miranda at a side, the police arrive. Can you talk to me about the moment whenever you were arrested and I mean talk me through whenever you realize something was going wrong. Well I would characterize it as a nightmare. I started with the war sister and the consultant. I had expressed my desire to not be in hospital any longer and there were a

further medical remedies that could be provided and we were immersed in that conversation. Very quickly two police constipals rushed into the room and immediately said

And I said "Money wife isn't getting anywhere" and I said "I have nothing to hide from my wife."

That's all. It's just absolutely bizarre and then they proceeded to say "Well be better if your wife was taken outside and I felt no I didn't want to leave my husband." So they proceeded to look at their phone and kind of read something off. It was all a bit of a day then you know I hear America. I hear Utah 2008 and a charge of rape and I thought instantly this cannot be my husband. He just can't be. Then they started with the most ridiculous narrative I've ever heard in the life that my name was

Nicholas Veyzy, or Nicholas Hamilton. The U.S. authorities claim that Oliverton is the fugitive Nicholas Rossi's birth name and that he uses many aliases. They didn't know which and that I

had committed the crime of rape of which I have known all it because I've never been to the state.

No, I would I be permitted to use life on an airplane because I have multiple medical conditions. I've never known him to ever go to the states and he's been in the British ours for all his life. I just thought what is going on. It just seems incredible what's being said. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense any of it. When he said his word I said that's impossible. You don't know what you're on about. I just went on and on and I had the expedition in it. We're going to come to the hospital

“in the FBI. We're going to come to the hospital room and that's what I'm trying to say. We're going to”

attend the Army every government agency was in on this. They just wanted me out of the room at that point. I didn't want to leave him. They were getting to the point where no, you have to go now. He's arrested and I just thought, "No, I don't want to leave him." I kept talking, talking and thinking, "Oh, you know, I'll be able to stay in here for a talk long enough." Then they got to the point where no, you'll actually go and we're going to take you out of this room. I just thought,

I'm leaving my ill husband in this room when this has just been said to him and I can't do anything. They took me to a family room on the ward and I just sat there by myself. It was crazy.

“So I sat in that room. I think my head was just going 200 miles per hour.”

It came out of the blue completely. There is just no way of knowing where it could come from.

Many, they said I was an interested person or at which I've never heard in my entire life.

And all of this occurring outside was recovering from three gomaths and being intimidated, multiple times and not being an IT, seeing my wife for months or then it was a terrible, terrible scenario. He was charming. He was engaging. He, you know, he had difficulty it appeared to me, you know, conversing every now and then and then sort of was, you know, that made me a bit, you know, sympathetic towards him. You're okay, Arthur. You're done. I mean, you're talking

very well and I know it's very difficult not for how you feel. I mean, do you want to have a wee break and half dinner? I'm just going to switch in. Okay, should I stop this? Yeah.

“We take a break from the interview to have some dinner. What's the noise? What's the check-in?”

Yeah, the check-in on the ground. Randa has gone to a bit of trouble and prepared some rose chicken

kicked you know it's a chance to record it. They're not worried.

“The flat that they live in being so small, there's actually not a table. In their living room,”

I was sitting in an armchair and Arthur was in his wheelchair and Miranda was sitting in a chair, but we were all sitting very close to each other and we sat with our dinner on a tray on our laps. They offered me champagne. She said, this is the champagne that we had when we were married. It was, you know, genuine actual champagne. I mean, why champagne? Possibly wine, but champagne? What was her to celebrate? It was very strange. So, um, I just, yeah, I'll leave that for a moment.

So, I knew I had to ask him to roll up his sleeves. You know, I'm thinking,

does he have these distinctive tattoos? And he was in a three-piece suit with a bow tie and the jacket was on. But I had to ask him and I did not know what his response was going to be. So we're back on to recording just another little bit before I leave you because I've been here

“at this stage over three hours and you must be very tired. So Nicholas Rossier-Rosey has both his arms”

tattooed. Yes, and I've seen my arms, the multiple people, multiple times. In you show me your arms, mine? I will, yes. Okay. Do you want Miranda to hold your mic?

I watch Arthur fold up the cuffs of his sleeves. Each turn meticulous so is not to unduly crease

his white shirt. With each fold, a couple more inches of arm are uncovered. He sitting there with both sleeves rolled up to his elbows and all I see is bear skin. No tattoos. I'm so surprised by this that I lean in, searching his skin for signs that he's hiding them. He ther under makeup are scars to hint at their removal. What? I mean, yes, there are no tattoos. I hang on to sing. What's that? A little more there. That is a girl from being in hospital.

So you've rolled up both your sleeves up until just below your elbow and it is as clear as day to me sitting in front of you. That there are no tattoos on your arms from just below your elbow to your wrist on both arms. And there's no evidence at all that there were tattoos there in terms of serious scarring that would appear whenever a tattoo is removed. I am in total disbelief. Arthur has got pictures of U.S. fugitive Nicholas Rossi's tattoos up from me to see on the large TV screen.

And I study them. The tattoos on Nicholas Rossi's left arm go right the way down to his wrist. But there are no tattoos between Arthur Knights' wrist and elbow. I'm questioning seriously and I'm turning to very much belief that you are who you say you are because of the tattooed arms that you don't have from what I can see from your elbow to. You clearly haven't had anything surgically removed from either arm from the elbow to

the arm because there is absolutely no scarring of any sort that I can see. It's lit so I pack up my things and say good night to Arthur and Miranda. I leave their flat and start making my way back to the security guard's car and my head is a buzz. So Pete, I've been in there for an half hours and I don't know what I actually

“I actually think he is Arthur Knight. I think I really think they've got it wrong.”

No no evidence of like there's a removal arm like that. He showed me his arms up and far as his elbows. There was absolutely no tattoos. There was no scarring whatsoever. I believe that the courts have made a terrible mistake. I mean obviously I need to unpack this massively and I mean if he wasn't prepared to roll up his things but I did ask him and I thought all Jesus will see and then he did.

I mean I just I actually I do think I think he's telling the truth and he's a very nice man and really I'm not off the opinion that that he is Arthur Knight. He's not Nicholas Rossier and Nicholas Oliverian that he's not American fugitive. He's not a common. I just think this is been a terrible, terrible mistake. Forensic experts probably say tattoos are like a fingerprint and if they are then this man

Arthur Knight is Arthur Knight. He is not Nicholas Rossi and I can see from my own eyes on that for me was a massive turning point.