McKinnon's mum wades into debate

 

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Posted on 13 Jan 2009 at 15:41

Gary McKinnon's mother has begged the authorities to allow him to be tried in the UK.

The US Government is currently trying to extradite Gary McKinnon for hacking into NASA and Pentagon systems 97 times.

McKinnon doesn't deny the attacks, but claims his actions weren't malicious and that he was simply trying to prove the US Government was covering up the existence of aliens.

US prosecutors claim McKinnon's unsolicited trip through its systems caused $1 billion worth of damage and are seeking a sentence that could see him spend up to 70 years in prison.

McKinnon has so far taken his case to every court of appeal in the land and lost them all. He has now agreed to plead guilty to a UK court if he can be tried in this country. His defence team are hoping his Asperger's Syndrome will also buy him some leeway, as the condition causes obsessive behaviour.

The Crown Prosecution Service is reviewing McKinnon's offer and his mother has begged the authorities to accept it and spare her son from a US jail.

"I would say to Gordon Brown and David Cameron, you both have vulnerable young sons. Should we really be extraditing our vulnerable adults and letting them serve 70 years abroad? Seventy years for looking for UFOs?" Janis Sharp tells The Times.

Sharp goes on to claim McKinnon is paying the price for embarrassing the US Government: "He's not a genius. He's good, but he's not the best. They had no passwords, no firewalls, and that's the problem. Gary embarrassed them. They wanted to make an example of somebody for computer crime, so they thought Gary was a soft touch.

"I think governments try to frighten people. They like to create villains and threats to justify some of their actions."

Author: Stuart Turton