News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Adrian Lamo, the prolific hacker who turned Chelsea Manning in to the FBI, has died, according to a Facebook post by a family member.

In the post, Mr Lamo's father Mario wrote: "With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrian's friends and acquaintances that he is dead.

"A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son."

The coroner for Sedgwick County, where Lamo lived, confirmed his death, but provided no further details, according to a report by ZDNet.

Adrian Lamo became a controversial figure in the hacker community after he tipped off authorities after about Manning providing the controversial combat video that became 'Collateral Murder' and 260,000 classified diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks.

The pair met after Manning read about Mr Lamo's previous role in several high-profile security breaches, including at the New York Times in 2002.

Mr Lamo defended his decision to turn Manning over to the FBI in an interview with the Guardian in 2013: "There were no right choices that day, only less wrong ones. It was cold, it was needful, and it was no one's to make except mine.

(Image: Facebook)

(Image: Getty)

"I couldn't just not do anything, knowing lives were in danger, it's classified information, and when you play Russian roulette, how do you know there's not a bullet in the next chamber?

"Making the choice to interdict a man's freedom knowing it could mean his life, is something that's easy to judge but can only really be understood by living it."

He made the decision to inform US military intelligence and the FBI of Manning's leak.

(Image: PA)

She was later arrested and sentenced to 35 years in prison, which was commuted by Barack Obama as one of his final acts as President.

She was released last year.

Adrian had defended his decision to hack into various corporations saying he had "an insatiable desire to see how things worked".

He famously was known as the homeless hacker - travelling across the US on public transport and hacking corporations from inside abandoned buildings.

In July 2010 he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and briefly hospitalised.