Home Office reconsiders McKinnon extradition

Gary McKinnon might be thrown a lifeline by new Home Secretary, Theresa May
Gary McKinnon might be thrown a lifeline by new Home Secretary, Theresa May

The Home Office is set to reconsider the plans for the extradition of computer hacker Gary McKinnon to the US.

McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, has been awaiting extradition to face trial in a US court, where he could face up to 70 years in jail for hacking into US military and NASA computers.

Theresa May, or may not

The newly-appointed Home Secretary, Theresa May, is now considering the case, no doubt urged to do so by the acres of national print press coverage McKinnon's case has so far generated.

"The Home Secretary has received a letter from Gary McKinnon's legal team asking her to agree to an adjournment of the judicial review in light of further representations," the Home Office told PC Pro. "A response will be sent as soon as possible.

"What that means is that they are not asking for them to cancel the whole thing - it's an adjournment to halt the proceedings and see which way to proceed. They are considering that at the moment."

Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have already said that McKinnnon should face trial in the UK.

"We hope the new Liberal-Conservative Government will act upon their previous public statements that it would be unjust to extradite Mr McKinnon," his solicitor, Karen Todner, said.

Via PC Pro

Adam Hartley