A British judge says American demands that Britain hands over one of its citizens, accused by Washington of hacking government systems, should be met.

"A self-described 'bumbling computer nerd' who started his hacking career looking for evidence that governments had orchestrated a UFO cover-up, Gary McKinnon now spends his time reading, fixing friends' computers and checking in at the local police station," says the Guardian Unlimited.

But McKinnon's supporters are afraid he'll be rail-roaded if he's tried in the US.

He's admitted hacking the computers but says didn't cause any damage and, fighting extradition, says he's already been, "hung and quartered over there" and wouldn't receive a fair trial, states the story.

UK home secretary John Reid has three months to decide whether or not to approve the extradition demand and, "Two other related cases also involve extradition and the decisions in these could be a strong indicator of how the request to extradite Mr McKinnon will be handled," says the BBC, adding:

"Karen Todner, Mr McKinnon's solicitor, said: "We're proposing to appeal this to the Secretary of State, and if we're still refused we will then appeal to the High Court for a decision to allow Gary to be tried here as a British citizen."

Also See:
Guardian Unlimited - The humble superhacker, May 10, 2006
BBC - McKinnon supporters to 'fight on', May 10, 2006