Janis Sharp, the mother ofPentagon hacker Gary McKinnonhas had
tea with the Prime Minister's wife Sarah Brown today, to discuss
the plight of her son.
Trudie Styler, campaigning wife of pop star Sting, accompanied
Janis Sharp and presented Mrs Brown with a petition compiled by
the National Autistic Society, which requested a halt to McKinnon's
extradition to face hacking charges in a US court (pictured).
Janis Sharp said she was grateful for Mrs Brown's support for
her son, who was arrested in 2002 after
hacking into US military and NASA computers in search of
information about a UFO cover-up.
"As each day passes with extradition still looming, it further
breaks Gary's spirit not to mention the hearts of all his family,
friends and supporters," said Sharp. "I just beg Mr Brown to act
and put a stop to this living nightmare."
She called for McKinnon to be prosecuted in the UK on the
grounds of medical evidence that since he had Asperger's Syndrome,
a form of autism,
extradition to the US could cause him severe mental health
problems.
The High Court heard last month how it was possible to try
McKinnon in the UK. It also heard that it would be humane to do so,
to avoid submitting him to unnecessary suffering.
Trudie Styler and Sting have been lobbying the government on
McKinnon's behalf. Styler said: "Gary's actions were clearly
misguided. However extraditing him 7 years after the event and
subjecting him to lengthy prison sentence thousands of miles away
from his family is an unnecessarily cruel and undignified way to
treat anyone, let alone someone with his condition."
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