These claims were — and remain — unverifiable.

They were made by a man with an established history of elaborate deception, in circumstances where he had strong motivation to deflect attention and responsibility onto others.

They cannot be taken at face value.

But they cannot be entirely dismissed either.

The question of whether any family member could knowingly accept a stranger as their missing child raises genuine psychological complexity.

It is easier to imagine if the alternative — that Nicholas was dead, that someone in the family bore responsibility — was something the family needed to avoid confronting.