GARY McKINNON denied appeal

Hacker denied extradition appeal

Computer hacker Gary McKinnon has been refused permission to appeal to the Supreme Court against extradition to the US on charges of breaking into the Pentagon's computer systems.

His mother last night accused the Government of "throwing their people to the dogs".

Janis Sharp said her son had been "suicidal" since learning he was to be extradited to America after hacking into military networks.

She said Mr McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, had only been looking for UFOs.

At a fringe meeting of the Conservative party conference in Manchester, chaired by the National Autistic Society, Ms Sharp said: "When we vote someone in to protect our rights, we don't expect this to happen.

"We are the only country in the world that will extradite our own people with no evidence whatsoever," she told the meeting.

In July Mr McKinnon failed in his High Court bid to avoid extradition.