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Computer hacker Gary McKinnon is set to go to European judges to fight his extradition to the United States after being refused permission today to appeal to the Supreme Court.
McKinnon, 43, is wanted in the US to stand trial for breaking into the Pentagon's military networks.
His lawyers argue he should be tried in Britain and fear the threat of prison in America would damage his health. McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, claims he was only searching for reports of UFO sightings.
But two High Court judges said his extradition was “a lawful and proportionate response” to his alleged offending. Lord Justice Stanley Burnton, sitting with Mr Justice Wilkie, said McKinnon's case did not raise “points of law of general public importance” which would justify a hearing before the Supreme Court.
McKinnon's lawyers said they would now consider applying to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Outside court, McKinnon's mother Janis Sharp said: “Gordon Brown and [Home Secretary] Alan Johnson should hang their heads in shame.
“No other country in the world would so readily offer its citizens to the US as sacrificial lambs merely to safeguard a so-called special political relationship. To use my desperately vulnerable son in this way is despicable, immoral and devoid of humanity.” Ms Sharp said ministers could “redeem themselves by taking a brave and principled stand and intervene now before it's too late”.
She accepted that “what Gary did was wrong but it was born of his compulsive and obsessive behaviour and does not justify extradition which would be a cruel and excessive punishment, particularly given his Asperger's”.
She added: “I fought for five years to protect my son and I am not about to give up now.”
Trudie Styler, who has campaigned for McKinnon, called for compassion. “Gary is a harmless, misguided and vulnerable man. Now is the time to put an end to his mental anguish and work with the US administration to prosecute him in this country.”
Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer, QC, has refused to put him on trial here. McKinnon, of Wood Green, has argued that extradition would breach his right to a private and family life in contravention of Article Eight of the European Convention of Human Rights and Article Three by subjecting him to inhuman or degrading treatment.
Imprisonment in the US could lead to possible psychosis and suicide, the court has heard.
Reader views (11)
if he's that good (to be able to root out a pentagon computer security vulnerability)no harm done, and possibly prevent a terrorist from doing the same thing, then he should be offered a job in the software industry or even for the pentagon
- Joe, Canada, 12/10/2009 15:32
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I would like to know who is paying for his legal representation. No doubt it's us, the taxpayer!
Why is it nobody seems to take responsibility for their own actions any longer? Excuse after excuse. Bleat bleat bleat. The man's guilty by his own admission. Stop wasting our taxes on him.
We can't find enough funds to treat people suffering from illnesses which is of no fault of their own, but we seem to have a never ending supply of cash for guilty criminals like this to appeal again and again and again.
We could learn a lot from America where criminals actually get treated (and punished) like criminals!
- Stephen Floyd, Evesham, 09/10/2009 17:17
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Rogan,
I repeat he has admitted his guilt & we know what the motivation for his "crime" was. Why can't he be tried in this country?
I have no anti American bias - I work for an American Company but just believe this case is fundamentally wrong. The legislation was set up to meet a specific threat or are you saying that Gary is a secret follower of Bin Laden?
- Derek Parsons, Croydon, England, 09/10/2009 17:05
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Following the release of the mass-murdering Libyan terrorist, our Govt will not risk further alienating/upsetting of their American masters.
After all, this guy is just an Englishman, who the Govt ceased caring for years ago.
- Scott, London, 09/10/2009 17:03
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Derek Parsons. From what you say of your own family experience then you should know that the heading "Asperger's Syndrome" is NOT a one size fits all deal. This man is a socially functioning adult who did something he KNEW was wrong (being easy to do is not an excuse for criminality under ANY law that I've ever heard of). He and his family have milked the public perceptions and anti-USA sentiments to the hilt, but the law can't afford that gut feeling and bias driven perspective.
You can't have it both ways. The UK is either a nation of laws, or it is a nation that can be swayed by any soft-soap story that comes along.
Final note: The guy hasn't even been tried in court yet. No one knows what is going to happen, just plenty of dire, doom-laden ultra-worst case scenarios being forecast. He's upset and depressed is he? That's kinda normal for people who do wrong and have to face up to the fact that they have to pay for their willful wrong-doing.
- Rogan, Irving, 09/10/2009 14:47
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Everyone who breaks outside laws tries to get back to -- or in this case, stay -- in the U.K. It just shows that something is very wrong and out-of-kilter with sentences imposed by the slap-on-the-wrist U.K. judicial system. I can't see that going to the federal court will give a result any different than those given by the provincial courts in the U.K.
- Phil Jones, London UK, 09/10/2009 14:45
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HE committed the crime in the UK so he should be prosecuted in the UK.
- Dirk Diggler, Soho, London, 09/10/2009 14:44
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had it been an American hacking into a British system would he be extradited, i think not!
- Peter, london, 09/10/2009 13:35
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1) He has pleaded guilty to the crimes - why can't he be punished in this country?
2) I am shocked by the venom of the 2 previous comments - I have a son on the autistic spectrum and I worry that if he ever got a fixation on something he could go down a similar road. Gary is clearly not a terrorist and he shouldn't be treated under legislation that was meant to stop a specific threat.
3)If Gary could get into a system then why couldn't he be employed to make the systems more secure?
Finally, I can only imagine the hell he and his family are going through at the moment and the very real possibility that he might take his own life as he cannot cope with all the changes to his routine. They deserve compassion not vitriol.
- Derek Parsons, Croydon, England, 09/10/2009 12:06
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Good - now let's ship him over to the US, where he can pay for the crime for the rest of his life.
Good riddance.
- Nowan King, London, 09/10/2009 11:26
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Good! I´m tired of hearing about this chap. His mother has played the Asperger's Syndrome card too often and too loudly for my liking, so now she can help him pack his suitcase for his trip to the US. He knew what he was doing when when he hacked into those computers. He got his fingers burnt so now he can face the consequences. Perhaps the rest of us can move on to more important news items.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands, 09/10/2009 10:54
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