A UFO enthusiast who hacked into top-secret US military computers appealed to the British Home Secretary to stop his extradition yesterday after losing a legal appeal.
Gary McKinnon is due to be extradited to the US within two weeks and could face a sentence of up to 80 years in a maximum-security prison if found guilty.
He admits to breaking into 97 US Navy, US Army, NASA and Pentagon computers in what has been described as "the biggest computer hack of all time".
Mr McKinnon, 42, an unemployed systems analyst, has said that he was looking for computer files containing details about UFOs and aliens. The US Government says that he stole passwords, deleted files and left threatening messages.
Mr McKinnon admitted carrying out the hacks using a computer in the London bedroom of a house owned by his girlfriend's aunt. He says that he was motivated by curiosity and gained entry only because of lax security.
