Every now and again, BBC iPlayer throws out an absolute belter of a documentary and this is definitely one of them. I assume people here are aware of the Nicholas Rossi case? Fascinating, sad, twisted, unhinged. Posting here so a few bona fide Scottish folk can confirm just how awful his accent is!
2025-12-02
Clip taken from 'Unmasking A Fugitive', The Big Cases. (BBC/2025)
I actually don’t know too much about the case. This documentary worth watching them?
That guy is nuts, just a compulsive liar.
Is this the sex offending crackpot who pretended to be someone else to escape justice?
I remember this case. I remember the awful accent. I think he was trying to put on an Irish accent? What annoyed me though, aside from his heinous crimes, was the woman covering up for him. She married him knowing what he was and even tried to help him fake his death. What was she even getting out of it?
The list of fake names he wrote out before settling on “Arthur Knight” is worth checking out. I think my favourite is “Benjamin Big”:
I, being a human being of no redeemable quality do like reading sheriff court appeals so I have general sense I’d like to think of their tone. You can feel the contempt practically dripping in parts here: Nobody on the planet believed this nonsense even people whose job it is to remain impartial struggled.
EDIT: Lived in Stirling five years now. To be honest, Scottish accents are even for our little island smorgasboard of variety surprisingly varied by people travelling around. However, whatever affectation “Mr Rossi” has doesn’t to my ear sound like anything real at all. It doesn’t sound like someone from Ireland who has “moved around”, it doesn’t sound like someone putting on a scots-tinged RP. It sounds like what it is: Made up.
Even the interviewer isn’t taking his shit when he pretends that he can’t stand up.
When he fell backwards on the taxi was something else. Absolute comedy.
There has been an American-who-lives-in-Edinburgh TikTok creator who has been following and documenting this guy’s antics ([ed_in_burgh (@ed_in_burgh) | TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@ed_in_burgh?lang=en)) and, yeah, the whole story is beyond insane.
This is a comedy right?
Are you asking Scottish people about the quality of a fake Irish accent OP, or am I missing something?
This guy is unbelievable. I work in courts, including as an interpreter in the extradition court in Edinburgh, so I met him several times in person.
During early proceedings, he would shout ‘my name is Arthur Knight!’ every time anyone said Nicholas Rossi in the courtroom, until the judge would order him to wait outside. He got arrested in a hospital because of very distinct tattoos and so he claimed that NHS staff tattooed full sleeve tattoos on his arms while he was in hospital. Later on when he had the oxygen tank he would sometimes forget to gasp for breath and would speak normally for a moment until he remembered and started coughing and wheezing. Unbelievable arrogance, he genuinely thought this theatre would work and used every trick in a book to delay proceedings…
What became of that Scottish woman who appears here as his partner / wife / carer / whatever? No way she was taken in by all of this and must have been regarded as an accomplice.. did she ever face questions in court?
He was a gift that kept on giving for a good while. Ridiculously entertaining.
He also reminded of a Volus from the Mass Effect series.
He’s an absolutely rotten person but holy shit it makes me cackle every time I see him. How he ever thought he was fooling anyone is insane
I would also highly recommend the podcast series “I Am Not Nicholas.” I think I’ve consumed every bit of media there is on this man, and that podcast was the first which answered a few unanswered questions (especially around Miranda’s complicity).
As interesting as he was I actually think she is more interesting. What the fuck is she getting out of helping a rapist fugitive hide his identity?
His wife must be desperate. Christ.
[ Removed by Reddit ]
Everything down to his accent is fake.
I would never watch the BBC even if you paid me to.
Jesus, if I hadn’t been aware of this cunt prior to seeing this clip I would have assumed this was a mockumentary with the pricks shenanigans. The really awkward way they try to “chase” him across the road with the mics, the flip getting into the taxi, the disconnected oxygen mask etc it just feels so fake it’s hard to believe this wasn’t filmed as a comedy.
22 comments
I actually don’t know too much about the case. This documentary worth watching them?
That guy is nuts, just a compulsive liar.
Is this the sex offending crackpot who pretended to be someone else to escape justice?
I remember this case. I remember the awful accent. I think he was trying to put on an Irish accent? What annoyed me though, aside from his heinous crimes, was the woman covering up for him. She married him knowing what he was and even tried to help him fake his death. What was she even getting out of it?
The list of fake names he wrote out before settling on “Arthur Knight” is worth checking out. I think my favourite is “Benjamin Big”:
https://preview.redd.it/zqq8x7xver4g1.png?width=2048&format=png&auto=webp&s=37e9ca5c626f7f16c489cf66da622e2feac364b5
I read the [original extradition ](https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/media/ajgnxq03/sheriff-court-judgement-the-lord-advocate-representing-the-united-states-of-america-against-nicholas-rossi-otherwise-known-as-arthur-knight-11-november-2022.pdf)hearing back in 2022 when it came out because honestly the whole thing is a fascinating farce.
I, being a human being of no redeemable quality do like reading sheriff court appeals so I have general sense I’d like to think of their tone. You can feel the contempt practically dripping in parts here: Nobody on the planet believed this nonsense even people whose job it is to remain impartial struggled.
EDIT: Lived in Stirling five years now. To be honest, Scottish accents are even for our little island smorgasboard of variety surprisingly varied by people travelling around. However, whatever affectation “Mr Rossi” has doesn’t to my ear sound like anything real at all. It doesn’t sound like someone from Ireland who has “moved around”, it doesn’t sound like someone putting on a scots-tinged RP. It sounds like what it is: Made up.
Even the interviewer isn’t taking his shit when he pretends that he can’t stand up.
When he fell backwards on the taxi was something else. Absolute comedy.
There has been an American-who-lives-in-Edinburgh TikTok creator who has been following and documenting this guy’s antics ([ed_in_burgh (@ed_in_burgh) | TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@ed_in_burgh?lang=en)) and, yeah, the whole story is beyond insane.
This is a comedy right?
Are you asking Scottish people about the quality of a fake Irish accent OP, or am I missing something?
This guy is unbelievable. I work in courts, including as an interpreter in the extradition court in Edinburgh, so I met him several times in person.
During early proceedings, he would shout ‘my name is Arthur Knight!’ every time anyone said Nicholas Rossi in the courtroom, until the judge would order him to wait outside. He got arrested in a hospital because of very distinct tattoos and so he claimed that NHS staff tattooed full sleeve tattoos on his arms while he was in hospital. Later on when he had the oxygen tank he would sometimes forget to gasp for breath and would speak normally for a moment until he remembered and started coughing and wheezing. Unbelievable arrogance, he genuinely thought this theatre would work and used every trick in a book to delay proceedings…
What became of that Scottish woman who appears here as his partner / wife / carer / whatever? No way she was taken in by all of this and must have been regarded as an accomplice.. did she ever face questions in court?
He was a gift that kept on giving for a good while. Ridiculously entertaining.
He also reminded of a Volus from the Mass Effect series.
https://preview.redd.it/71jkqjjxir4g1.jpeg?width=251&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89111b3ba767c0e26ab68cc44453601385c0531d
He’s an absolutely rotten person but holy shit it makes me cackle every time I see him. How he ever thought he was fooling anyone is insane
I would also highly recommend the podcast series “I Am Not Nicholas.” I think I’ve consumed every bit of media there is on this man, and that podcast was the first which answered a few unanswered questions (especially around Miranda’s complicity).
As interesting as he was I actually think she is more interesting. What the fuck is she getting out of helping a rapist fugitive hide his identity?
His wife must be desperate. Christ.
[ Removed by Reddit ]
Everything down to his accent is fake.
I would never watch the BBC even if you paid me to.
Jesus, if I hadn’t been aware of this cunt prior to seeing this clip I would have assumed this was a mockumentary with the pricks shenanigans. The really awkward way they try to “chase” him across the road with the mics, the flip getting into the taxi, the disconnected oxygen mask etc it just feels so fake it’s hard to believe this wasn’t filmed as a comedy.
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