Hacker says no to medical tests in extradition fight

Janis Sharp said her son would not undergo a final psychiatric examination before the Home Secretary decides whether to order his extradition.

The case will return to London’s High Court on Tuesday “in anticipation of an imminent Home Office decision”, a family spokeswoman said yesterday.

At the last court hearing on July 5, judges were told Theresa May was “close” to making a decision.

But she was “personally concerned” that medical experts instructed by her department had not been permitted to carry out an examination to help her to decide whether McKinnon would be at high risk of committing suicide if removed.

McKinnon’s supporters claim the Home Office-appointed expert, Professor Thomas Fahy, has no experience in uncovering suicidal tendencies in Asperger syndrome patients.

He has already been assessed on “at least six different occasions by six independent specialists”, they said.

Ms Sharp said: “Gary’s ordeal has gone on for far too long.

“The Home Office should accept the very clear and incontrovertible evidence provided by the country’s leading psychiatric experts in this field.

“It’s time to make the right decision and end Gary’s torment of extradition.

“When he’s fit and ready, as we have said all along, the CPS could try him in this country for his foolish acts that happened over a decade ago.”

She went on: “No one has ever been extradited from America to the UK for conduct that took place in America so why is Britain extraditing British citizens to the US for actions undertaken on British soil?”

American officials have demanded that McKinnon is tried in the US despite expert opinions obtained by his legal team warning that his mental condition could lead him to commit suicide if extradited.

Assessing the level of risk is crucial to the Home Secretary’s decision on whether to allow extradition to go ahead.

The US authorities want McKinnon, from Wood Green, north London, to face trial for hacking into Pentagon and Nasa computers between February 2001 and March 2002.

McKinnon faces up to 60 years in jail if convicted.

The 46-year-old, who suffers from Asperger syndrome – a high-functioning form of autism – was first arrested in 2002.

He admits to what one US lawyer called “the biggest military computer hack of all time”, but claims he was looking for evidence of UFOs.