The Conservative Party yesterday lost by 54 votes a
parliamentary motion that might have saved self-confessed
hacker
Gary McKinnon from extradition.
The Conservatives brought a motion asking for the government to
review the Extradition Act 2003 which it said was being undermined
by a series of high profile cases that harmed confidence in the
extradition system.
McKinnon (43), from north London, was arrested in 2002 on
suspicion of hacking US government computers in 2001. The US did
not ask for his extradition until the 2003 Act came into force.
McKinnon is appealing against the decision of the director of
public prosecutions (DPP) not to try him in the UK. The DPP said
earlier the UK lacked the evidence to bring a prosecution against
McKinnon, and that therefore the trial should take place in the
US.
If convicted, McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome,
faces up to 60 years in a maximum security prison.