UK blocks extradition of alleged hacker to US

A British computer hacker’s decade-long struggle to avoid trial in the US over alleged breaches of military and Nasa networks ended in success on Tuesday, as the UK government ruled he was unfit to face charges there.

Home Secretary Theresa May said she had blocked the US request to extradite Gary McKinnon after medical experts concluded he was seriously ill and likely to attempt to take his own life.

The 46-year-old unemployed computer administrator, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, was accused of one of the largest ever breaches of military networks, carried out soon after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

British prosecutors will now decide if he should face charges in the UK.

McKinnon insists that he was scouring sensitive US computer networks in an attempt to uncover concealed evidence of extraterrestrial life. Known online by the handle Solo, McKinnon also claimed to have been attempting to expose security weaknesses.

He described how in 2001 and 2002 he spent about a year attempting to crack US military systems – spending up to eight hours a day at a computer in his girlfriend’s aunt’s house while drinking beer and smoking marijuana.

McKinnon has since claimed that his hacking uncovered photographic proof of alien spacecraft and the names and ranks of “non-terrestrial officers”.