ComputerWeekly.com | UFO Hacker Gary Mckinnon suicidal over health

November 11, 2009

Protracted extradition proceedings have turned UFO hacker Gary McKinnon into a nervous wreck who is on medication to quell his suicidal tendencies, his mother, Janis Sharp, told MPs yesterday.

In the light of Gary McKinnon's hearings, the chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee has questioned whether the Human Rights Act is fit for purpose.

The Human Rights Act is so exacting that Gary McKinnon's risk of suicide might not be sufficient to engage its protections and prevent his extradition.

The threat of extradition was having a detrimental effect on McKinnon's mental health, said Janis Sharp, McKinnon's campaigning mother.

She told MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee: "It has ruined Gary's life... it has destroyed him. If the door goes, he jumps. If someone touches him, he jumps. He has incredible chest pains every morning."

McKinnon, who has Asperger's Syndrome, became suicidal last month after the High Court threw out his appeal against extradition on human rights grounds. He was put on medication. "He would rather be dead than be extradited, that's the reality," Sharp said. FULL STORY