Gary McKinnon granted judicial review

Published: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:00:00

The threat of extradition to the US hanging looming over Gary McKinnon has been delayed until at least April after his lawyers were granted a judicial review. A high court judge will now rule on whether home secretary Alan Johnson was right to not intervene in a US request to try the 43-year-old, who was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome last year. His supporters claim his condition means he is too frail to face the trauma of extradition and trial in the US, with his family and lawyers leading a long campaign for him to be tried in the UK for allegedly breaking into Pentagon computer systems.

American prosecutors claim he hacked into highly-classified systems in the aftermath of the September 11th 2001 attacks, but Mr McKinnon insists he was looking for information on UFOs. A long succession of appeals hass all proved unsuccessful, the latest setback coming in November when Mr Johnson said extradition would not breach his human rights. If the judicial review hearing due in either April or May fails, his supporters will be forced to travel to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg.

An incoming Conservative government has promised to change the law to rebalance the treaty under which the US has applied for his extradition, but such a change could arrive too late for Mr McKinnon. His mother Janis Sharp said the sense of relief at hearing his extradition had been delayed for at least several months was "indescribable". "I couldn't stop crying when I heard the news; Gary says he's still in shock," she said.

Writing on Twitter, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: "Am heartened to hear that Gary McKinnon has been granted a judicial review on the decision to extradite him to the US."

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