CIA hacker suspect, 19, ‘will not be extradited’

Ryan Cleary, 19, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, has been charged in the UK with conspiring with three other people to create a remotely-controlled network of zombie computers, known as a “botnet”, which crashes websites.

Yesterday his solicitor Kaim Todner said he is also subject to an indictment with the same charges in California but the US prosecutor has said he should be dealt with by British courts and the US will not be seeking his extradition.

Karen Todner said: “As yet no decision has been made as to which charges Mr Cleary will deny or accept but we can state now that should any application be made for Mr Cleary’s extradition then it will be fiercely contested. Mr Cleary suffers from Asperger’s syndrome and is on the autistic spectrum and extradition to the United States is totally undesirable.

“We would once again urge the UK government, particularly in light of the evidence of internet and computer cases coming through the courts, that they now review the US Extradition Treaty.”

Cleary, from Wickford in Essex, is accused of conspiring with unemployed Ryan Ackroyd, 25, of Oak Road, Mexborough, Doncaster, Jake Davis, 18, and a 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to impair the operation of a computer between February 1 and September 30 last year.

He is allegedly a member of online activists LulzSec, a spin-off of the loosely organised hacking collective Anonymous.

The British indictment alleges the four plotted together to crash or hack sites for the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the CIA, News International, Sony, US computer game firm Bethesda, the NHS, Nintendo, and 20th Century Fox.