Gary McKinnon signs confession to avoid hacking extradition
(Dave Bebber/The Times)
Gary McKinnon denies that he damaged any computers while searching for evidence of alien encounters
A UFO enthusiast who hacked into US military computers looking for evidence
that aliens have visited Earth today signed a written confession in a
last-ditch bid to avoid extradition.
Gary McKinnon, 42, from north London, faces a sentence of up to 80 years in
prison if he is found guilty in an American court of hacking into and
damaging 97 US Navy, Army, Nasa and Pentagon computers.
Mr McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, has failed in numerous
appeals against the extradition. His lawyer hopes that by handing a signed
confession to the Crown Prosecution Service he could be tried in the UK.
Karen Todner, his lawyer, said he still denies causing damage to the computer
equipment, which cost $800,000 (£532,500) according to the US authorities.
He signed a statement offering to plead guilty under UK law to hacking into
the computers in breach of the Misuse of Computers Act.
Ms Todner said she was awaiting a response from the director of public
prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, but added she was hopeful prosecutors would
accept the deal.
“They are different offences to what he was being extradited for, but it
reflects his culpability for what he did,” she said.
A Crown Prosecution Service spokeswoman confirmed they had received the letter
and were considering it.
The US military claims Mr McKinnon, from Wood Green, left 300 computers at a
US Navy weapons station unusable immediately after the September 11 terror
attacks in 2001.
He is accused of hacking into 53 US Army computers and 26 US Navy computers,
including those at US Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey, which is
responsible for replenishing munitions and supplies for the Atlantic fleet.
He is also accused of hacking into 16 Nasa computers, one US Department of
Defence computer and one machine belonging to the US Air Force.
He was caught in 2002 as he tried to download a grainy black and white
photograph which he believed was an alien spacecraft from a Nasa computer
housed in the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.
He was easily traced by the authorities because he used a personal e-mail
address.
If the case is heard in the US it is thought that he would receive a
relatively light sentence and that, under a plea bargain offer, he would
spend six to 12 months in a US jail before being returned to Britain to
serve the rest of his time.
McKinnon says he was looking for UFO files and his supporters have said this
was an obsession that went too far.
He has previously said: “What I did was illegal and wrong and I accept I
should be punished. But I am not a member of al-Qaeda. I believe my case is
being treated so seriously because they’re scared of what I’ve seen. I’m
living in a surreal, nutter’s film.”
An application for permission for a judicial review of the proposed
extradition is expected to be heard at the High Court in London on January
20.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5503814.ece
McKinnon lawyers push for UK trial
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Lawyers for alleged Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon have written to UK
prosecutors seeking a trial in Britain, in a move designed to frustrate
attempts to extradite the UFO enthusiast for trial in the US.
The Crown Prosecution Service is evaluating a request from
McKinnon's solicitors offering a guilty plea in a UK trial for offences
against the Misuse of Computers Act, the UK's computer hacking law. The Guardian reports any prosecution and punishment in Britain would make extradition to the US unlikely.
McKinnon and his supporters have fought a long-running campaign to
avoid his extradition to the US. The Scot, who was recently diagnosed
with Asperger's syndrome, has the support of autism charities.
A judicial review of the Home Secretary's decision to disregard his
recent diagnosis in pressing ahead with McKinnon's extradition is
scheduled for 20 January.
The failure of McKinnon's extradition appeal to the House of Lords
and a related petition to the European Court of Human Rights last year
meant that the Scot's legal options had seemingly shrunk to an oral
review of the Home Secretary's decision before a judge. The possibility
of a UK prosecution is therefore something of a wildcard.
McKinnon faces a seven-count US indictment alleging that he broke
into 97 US government, NASA and military systems during 2001 and 2002.
The London-based Scot admitted his action when he was arrested and
taken in for questioning by officers from the former National Hi-Tech
Crime Unit in 2002. According to McKinnon, British officers who
questioned him spoke of lenient treatment and a UK trial if he pleaded
guilty to hacking offences. US attempts to extradite McKinnon only
commenced in 2005.
Prosecutors in the US allege that McKinnon caused damages in excess
of $700,000 in running the "biggest military hack ever". McKinnon
admits breaking into systems in his hunt for evidence that the US
military had harvested advanced technology from crashed UFOs, but
denies doing any damage. ®
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/12/mckinnon_uk_trial_letter/
He was easily traced by the authorities because he used a personal e-mail address.
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