McKinnon loses US extradition appeal

Gary McKinnon will face hacking charges in the US

London hacker Gary McKinnon will be sent to the US to be tried on seven counts of computer fraud committed against the US government. If convicted, McKinnon is likely to spend life in jail.

McKinnon asked the European Court of Human Rights to delay his extradition while he made a full appeal to the court against the extradition.

He is arguing that the conditions of detention he would face if convicted in the US would be degrading and an infringement of his human rights.

However, his application has been denied and a spokeswoman from the UK Home Office said there is nothing the UK government can do to stop the process. "It is a framework that has to be followed," she said.

The US government accuses McKinnon of accessing and damaging 92 computers holding information on national defence, security and military operations.

His hacking ultimately caused a network in Washington DC to shut down, resulting in a loss of internet access and email service to about 2,000 users for three days, the US government said. The estimated loss is around $900,000 (£490,000), it said.

"Once he was able to access the computers, McKinnon installed a remote administration tool, a number of hacker tools, copied password files and other files, deleted a number of user accounts and deleted critical system files," read one of the US government's accusing statements.

McKinnon said he wanted to find information on UFOs.