US prosecutors have won their battle before law lords to
extradite British computer "super-hacker" Gary McKinnon for
breaking into the Pentagon network.
The
law
lords made their ruling today after a six-year fight to force
McKinnon to stand trial for breaking into US defence and NASA
computer systems, allegedly causing £350,000 worth of damage. The
charges carry a potential 60-year prison sentence.
The five law lords who made the judgment, which was announced
today, all dismissed McKinnon's appeal.
US prosecutors dubbed it: "The biggest military computer hack of
all time."
At a
hearing last month, the law lords heard that McKinnon, of
Enfield, north London, broke into more than 73,000 American
government computers. McKinnon was appealing against an extradition
order made by the High Court in 2006.
McKinnon told
Computer Weekly just before the hearing that he started hacking
in 1999, looking for evidence of extraterrestrial beings and
technology, which he believed the US government was hiding.
But he denied causing any damage to the computer systems.
His appeal was based on the claim that the terms of a plea
bargain offered to him by US prosecutors put "unconscionable
pressure" on him to give up his right to an extradition
hearing.
His lawyers argued that the pressure on him to accept a plea
bargain amounted to "an unlawful abuse of the court process".
The law lords handed down their decision today, but the reasons
for the judgement will not be released until later in the day.
The five law lords who heard the case are Lord Scott of Foscote,
Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord
Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, and Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury.