The Asperger’s suffered by an alleged computer hacker is so acute he is ‘not aware of the consequences’ of his actions, the country’s leading autism expert warns.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen said vicar’s son Lauri Love did not understand the ‘bigger picture’ when he allegedly hacked US government websites.

The Cambridge professor, who diagnosed computer hacker Gary McKinnon with Asperger’s, also cautioned that Mr Love is likely to kill himself if sent to the US to face trial. Mr McKinnon was spared extradition by Theresa May in 2012 following a Mail campaign.

The US is currently seeking extradition of Mr Love, 31, who is accused of hacking government websites including the FBI, the US Army and Nasa. The student faces trial in three states and a possible 99-year prison sentence if convicted.

The US is currently seeking extradition of Mr Love (centre), pictured with parents Rev Alexander Love and mother Sirkka

But independent medical experts argue that his condition – a form of autism – makes him ‘especially vulnerable’ to depression and suicide if he is put in prison.

In a report prepared for Mr Love’s extradition case, Professor Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre, said: ‘Autism typically means a person may not be fully aware of the consequences of their actions, or understand the consequences of their behaviour on others.

‘Because people with autism are also strongly obsessional, meaning that they pursue their current interest to extraordinary detail and lengths and in great depth, they can develop “tunnel vision” that prevents them from seeing the bigger picture, including the repercussions of their current actions.’

Professor Baron-Cohen said Mr Love had a ‘very severe disability’ and was ‘very high’ on the spectrum. He also assessed Mr Love’s chance of killing himself if he were to run out of legal avenues as ‘very high’, stating that his risk of suicide has increased as his extradition proceedings have gone on. The professor warned: ‘Prison would be entirely the wrong place for a man with his disabilities and vulnerable mental health to be in because he would not cope socially, and his previously very severe depression would be highly likely to recur.’

He added that Mr Love, who lives with his parents, Alexander and Sirkka, near Newmarket, Suffolk, often pursued his interests to distraction, neglecting his health as Mr McKinnon had.

Another expert, Dr Michael Kopelman, emeritus professor of neuropsychiatry at King’s College London, found that Mr Love was clinically depressed, suffering from bouts of ‘severe [depression] with some psychotic symptoms’.

And Dr L Thomas Kucharski, professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, said suicide was his ‘chief concern’ for Mr Love.

The professor, an expert on how psychiatric treatment works in US prisons, said: ‘My sense of Lauri’s prognosis [in a US prison] is that it’s quite poor. He will spend a long time on suicide watch; he would likely be placed on suicide watch on admission. My concern is that, in terms of his presentation Lauri would not tell you he is suicidal.’

Independent medical experts argue that Mr Love's condition – a form of autism – makes him ‘especially vulnerable’ to depression and suicide if he is put in prison

Mr Love’s lawyer Ben Cooper said: ‘Mr Love’s Asperger’s would make him especially vulnerable to a prison environment far from his home and family and support in the US.

‘All of the experts agree that spending significant amount of time in US custody would worsen Mr Love’s depression to a dangerous point.’

Mr Love was first arrested at his home three years ago and has fought an ongoing battle to prevent his extradition to the US.

In September, a judge agreed to send the student to face trial in the US. The request was signed off by Home Secretary Amber Rudd two weeks ago.

But his supporters claim that his human rights were not taken into account and nor was a legal principle known as the forum bar which should have allowed him to be tried in Britain.