19 Facts About Gary McKinnon

Gary McKinnon was born on February 1966 and is a Scottish systems administrator and hacker who was accused by a US prosecutor in 2002 of perpetrating the "biggest military computer hack of all time".

Gary McKinnon became interested in computers at the age of 14, when he was given an Atari 400 console.

The US government accused Gary McKinnon of hacking into 97 United States military and NASA computers over a 13-month period between February 2001 and March 2002, at the house of his girlfriend's aunt in London, using the name 'Solo'.

Gary McKinnon is alleged to have posted a notice on the military's website: "Your security is crap".

Gary McKinnon was accused of copying data, account files and passwords onto his own computer.

US authorities stated that Gary McKinnon was trying to downplay his own actions.

Gary McKinnon did very serious and deliberate damage to military and NASA computers and left silly and anti-America messages.

Gary McKinnon was first interviewed by UK police on 19 March 2002 at the request of the US.

Gary McKinnon was interviewed again on 8 August 2002, this time by the UK National Hi-Tech Crime Unit.

In November 2002, Gary McKinnon was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Gary McKinnon remained at liberty without restriction for three years until June 2005, when he became subject to bail conditions including a requirement to sign in at his local police station every evening and to remain at his home address at night.

Gary McKinnon had expressed fears that he could be sent to Guantanamo Bay.

Gary McKinnon appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, which briefly imposed a bar on the extradition.

On 23 January 2009, Gary McKinnon won permission from the High Court to apply for a judicial review against his extradition.

On 31 July 2009, the High Court announced that Gary McKinnon had lost this appeal.

Gary McKinnon has Asperger's syndrome, and suffers from depressive illness.

Gary McKinnon stated that the Director of Public Prosecutions would determine whether McKinnon should face trial before a British court.

Janis Sharp, Gary McKinnon's mother, stood as an independent candidate in the 2010 general election in Blackburn in protest against the sitting Labour MP Jack Straw, who was Foreign Secretary when the extradition treaty was agreed.

Gary McKinnon has admitted in many public statements that he obtained unauthorised access to computer systems in the United States including those mentioned in the United States indictment.