DPP 'wrong to deny hacker a trial in Britain'

Britain's top prosecutor failed to consider a computer hacker's human rights when he chose not to prosecute him in Britain for attacks on US military computers, the High Court heard.

Gary McKinnon, 43, from Wood Green in north London, faces extradition and imprisonment in an American "supermax" jail for a series of hacks. Yesterday, his lawyer asked judges to overturn a refusal by Keir Starmer QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, to try him in the UK.

The DPP decided not to prosecute Mr McKinnon, citing "insufficient evidence", despite the fact the Asperger's sufferer had admitted to hacking into Nasa and US military computers.

His lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald QC, said allowing Mr McKinnon to be put in a supermax jail would be "disastrous" for his health. He also said the DPP misapplied the law when it declined to prosecute.