A man who fled from the United States to Scotland after he appeared to fake his own death to avoid rape charges, has been sentenced to at least five years in prison .

Nicholas Rossi, 38, of Rhode Island, Utah, in the US, was sentenced by district judge Barry Lawrence in Salt Lake City, the Associated Press reports. It was the first of two sentences handed to Rossi, who was found guilty of a second rape charge in September.

Both offences took place in northern Utah in 2008.

Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, will be sentenced for the second conviction in November. His first sentence will be carried out at the Utah State Correctional Facility and will begin immediately.

The judge said Utah has an indeterminate sentencing, meaning it is given in a range of years rather

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