The new owner of Knockderry Castle was the prosecutor who initially filed charged against American sex offender and fugitive Nicholas Rossi.

David Leavitt, who bought the castle with wife Chelom, is a former Utah county attorney, identifying Rossi as a suspect in a 2008 rape case.

Mr Leavitt was behind the extradition efforts after Rossi was traced to a Covid ward in Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in 2021.

READ MORE: Knockderry Castle new owners launch blog to document restoration | Helensburgh Advertiser

The American was arrested, but claimed to be an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight. In November 2022, a sheriff at Edinburgh Sheriff Court ruled that he was Rossi.

He is now being held at Saughton Prison in Edinburgh, awaiting extradition.

Mr Leavitt told the Daily Record that the case was “largely responsible” for him losing out on re-election to his role in Utah.

He told the newspaper: “Nicholas Rossi has given me a tremendous opportunity to refocus my life in something completely different to what I did before."

“I hold no official position, I’m not even practising law at this point. I’m having a wonderful time trying to bring back a part of Scottish heritage that I think was on the verge of being lost.”