A long running extradition battle has just gotten even longer.
A hearing for a suspected rapist - who tried to con the Scottish Courts into believing he was an innocent Irish orphan - has been put off until the Summer.
It's after 35-year-old Nicholas Rossi, who was expected to appear before Edinburgh Sheriff Court this morning (March 6), refused to get into the prison van.
During the more than hour-long case on Monday it was delayed because not all the required reports had been completed.
Rossi's Lawyer , Mungo Bovey, asked the sheriff to delay proceedings, and told him: "I very much regret making this motion, both because of the disruption to the court diary and, frankly, for the prolonging of these proceedings which is not in anyone's interest, including the requested person who displays psychological distress which is exacerbated by the continuing proceedings and his continuing incarceration."
Sheriff McFadyen said: "It's to say the least unfortunate the court cannot effectively proceed with the full extradition hearing date despite the fact this date was set as long ago as November last year."
A preliminary hearing will be held on April 20, and the he told the court the week-long extradition hearing would now be scheduled to begin on June 26.
Sheriff McFadyen said he would be "entitled" to hold the man to the commitment he made to hold the hearing on Monday, but said his legal team had been taking steps to secure the required reports and that it could take some time to produce these.
Sheriff McFadyen had said it was a "source of concern to the court the case has now been rumbling on for a very long time" and warned given the delays the "firm expectation and intention" of the court was to hold the hearing in June.
Rossi had previously tried to tell Courts he was in fact Arthur Knight, an Irish orphan.
But in November Sheriff McFadyen ruled he was the man American authorities were seeking in connection with rape and sexual assault charges.
Last month Rossi, who attends court in an electric wheelchair, had applied for bail but it was ruled he posed a "substantial risk of absconding".
Rossi was first arrested in October last year after checking himself into the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow with Covid-19.
While in Scotland, under the alias Knight and posing as a tutor, Rossi developed Covid pneumonitis and became "the sickest patient on the ward", according to medical staff who were caring for him at the time.
It was at this point Police Scotland officers were issued with an Interpol red notice, with pictures of the wanted man, including images of his tattoos, and fingerprints.
He has been remanded in custody.
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