Gary McKinnon 'tearful with joy' after top prosecutor confirms the computer hacker will face no further criminal action

Gary McKinnon will not face charges, says Director of Public Prosecutions

Difficulty of co-ordinating U.S. and UK authorities made trial impractical

Hacker's legal victory comes after long-running campaign led by the Mail



Relief: Gary McKinnon with his mother Janis yesterday. He will not face any criminal charges

Gary McKinnon’s ten-year nightmare was finally over yesterday after police and prosecutors decided he will not stand trial in Britain.

The computer hacker won his fight against extradition two months ago when Theresa May blocked US demands to send him there.

That decision marked a victory for the Daily Mail’s An Affront to British Justice campaign.



Now Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer has announced that the 46-year-old Asperger’s sufferer, who medical experts warned would be very likely to kill himself if extradited, will not face criminal charges in this country either.

Speaking last night Mr McKinnon said: ‘This is the cherry on the cake, it’s just amazing.

‘It has been a terrifying experience hanging over me for so long. I now feel like a huge weight has been lifted from me.’

His mother Janis Sharp said: ‘This will be the 11th Christmas since his arrest and it is the first time we can celebrate.

‘We can all now finally breathe a sigh of relief. I no longer have the feeling of constant terror that my son will be taken away from me.’

The decision not to bring charges came on Mrs Sharp’s 64th birthday. She added: ‘I couldn’t ask for a better birthday present.

‘It’s just wonderful. The next thing I would like to get, impossible though it seems, would be a pardon from President Obama.’



Mrs Sharp said she hoped that the US authorities would now drop their extradition warrant for her son, who has always been willing to stand trial in the UK.

Threat: The autistic alleged hacker was saved from extradition to the U.S. in October

‘He regrets what he’s done. He wishes he hadn’t done it. He wishes he hadn’t upset the Americans. We all regret it. But I’m grateful to Theresa May that this is all over now.’

If extradited, Mr McKinnon, from Wood Green, North London, faced up to 60 years behind bars for hacking into Pentagon and Nasa computers looking for the existence of ‘little green men’.



But in a dramatic, 11th-hour decision in October, the Home Secretary defied American demands and blocked his removal under the controversial 2003 Extradition Act.

Her announcement, in a statement to the Commons, drew cheers from MPs and marked a watershed for the Mail campaign, launched in 2009 to allow Mr McKinnon to be tried here.

Relief: Ms Sharp spoke of her joy at seeing her son cleared on Friday, which is her birthday

