Brown 'sympathetic' to Scots hacker's plight

Published on Wednesday 22 July 2009 14:43

GORDON Brown said today that he was "sympathetic" to the plight of Gary McKinnon, who faces extradition to the US on charges of hacking into American military computers.

The Prime Minister said the case raised a "number of issues", but claimed the public did not want the Home Secretary to have the power to decide on all extradition requests from America.

Asperger syndrome sufferer Mr McKinnon is fighting a legal battle to prevent his extradition to the US, where if convicted, the 43-year-old could be jailed for up to 60 years in a high-security prison.

At his monthly news conference in Downing Street, Mr Brown was asked if he was satisfied with the extradition arrangements between Britain and America.

He said: "I think you have always got to look at what arrangements you have and whether they are working."

He stressed those arrangements had seen violent, drug and sex offenders brought back to Britain.

But he added: "The Gary McKinnon case raises a number of issues and anybody who looks at this must be sympathetic to someone who suffers from Asperger syndrome.

"However there are court cases pending at the moment, one challenging the Director of Public Prosecutions for his judgment, and I think we have got to wait for the outcome of these court cases.

"I don't think people want a law which gives the country absolute discretion in who comes in and who comes out of the country by way of extradition."

Last week Glasgow-born McKinnon, from Wood Green, north London, has asked the High Court to overturn the refusal of Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer to put him on trial in the UK on charges of computer misuse.

The court reserved judgment and said it hoped to give a decision in writing by the end of July.

Mr McKinnon has admitted computer hacking and leaving a message in US military systems saying "I will continue to disrupt", but his lawyers said his intention was only to cause "temporary impairment" not lasting damage to the system.

They argue that extradition would lead to "disastrous consequences", including possible psychosis and suicide, because of his medical condition which is on the autistic spectrum.