Gary McKinnon extradition: Timeline of hacker's life

Gary McKinnon, 46, has been subject to a ten-year legal battle over alleged computer hacking, with Home Secretary Theresa May today blocking the computer hacker's extradition to America.

McKinnon, born in Glasgow in February 1966, showed an interest in computers and alien activity from an early age - although at the time he had no idea just how much his interests would affect his later life.

His mother has described in interviews how a young McKinnon would ask his parents technical questions about the distances between planets and scientific names of stars.

Janis Sharp told IEEE Spectrum he would ask things which 'a toddler didn't usually talk about'.

By the age of 10 McKinnon had become fearful of the outdoors and would beg his parents not to make him play with others outside - a precursor to his later diagnosis of Asperger's sydrome, a mild form of autism.

As a young teenager he spent hours learning complex piano arrangements and also taught himself to code video games set in outer space aged 14.

While his interest in computers and UFOs intensified, McKinnon found living in the real world increasingly difficult.

He dropped out of secondary school and drifted between computer technical support jobs, but struggled to hold them down as his relationship with his childhood sweetheart began to deteriorate.

According to IEEE Spectrum, his mother Janis Sharp became fearful that his mood swings could lead to him taking his own life.

It was the emergence of the internet in the mid-to-late 1990s which spurred on McKinnon's curiosity over alien lifeforms.

His mother told IEEE Spectrum: "That's when he started looking online for information on aliens. It was his escape."

In 2000, McKinnon decided to look for evidence of a UFO cover-up on the U.S. government's computer systems.

Between February 2001 and March 2002, he spent repeated late-nights in his north London flat searching almost 100 Pentagon and NASA computer systems, trying to find proof that aliens exist.

In March 2002 he was arrested by the Met Police for offences under the UK's Computer Misuse Act 1990. His alleged crimes carried a potential five-year prison term.

After admitted offences, he was told in October 2002 he would probably be charged in the UK, but this changed just weeks later when the U.S. states of Virginia and New Jersey issued indictments on charges of their own.

U.S. officials claimed he had caused untold damage to U.S. government computers and in April 2003, he was summoned to meet U.S. prosecutors at the American Embassy in London.

In August 2004, the District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia issued a warrant for Mr McKinnon's arrest. Two months later the U.S. government formally filed a request for McKinnon's extradition.

After a warrant is issued for his arrest in the UK, Mr McKinnon is held by police at his north London home in June 2005. He appears before Bow Street Magistrates and is granted bail.

In 2006, a District Judge recommends McKinnon for extradition, but leaves the final decision to then Home Secretary John Reid, who in July that year signs an order for McKinnon to be extradited.

Mr McKinnon appeals his extradition in April 2007, but loses.

A further appeal by the computer hacker at the House of Lords is dismissed in July 2008. The following month, he is diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism.

The same month, the European Court of Human Rights refuses an application to stay the extradition pending an appeal to the court.

In September 2008, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith rejects a request from Mr McKinnon's legal team to stop the extradition on the grounds of his autism.

At the end of the year his solicitor wrotes to Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), asking for Mr McKinnon to be prosecuted in the UK on a lesser charge.

2009 sees McKinnon win permission to seek a judicial review of Jacqui Smith's decision. In February 2009, the CPS announce it will not bring charges against him in Britain.

Campaigners begin to demand that the U.S. drops the charges against McKinnon, as a review of Ms Smith's decision gets underway at home.

In June, lawyers for McKinnon state that extraditing him could cause the vulnerable McKinnon to commit suicide.

Various politicians, including David Cameron, join calls for a review of extradition laws.

In October 2009, the High Court refuses permission for Mr McKinnon to appeal to the Supreme Court against his pending removal to America.

A month later Janis Sharp meet the Home Secretary and pleads with him to stop McKinnon's extradition, saying he would 'rather be dead' than face a U.S. trial.

In 2010, new Home Secretary Theresa May agrees McKinnon's case should be adjourned while medical evidence is assessed.

In June 2011, the Joint Committee on Human Rights states that the Government should renegotiate the UK's extradition treaty with the US to ensure British citizens get the same protection as Americans.

However, a long-awaited review in October declares that the current treaty between the US and the UK is both balanced and fair. Campaigners call for the Extradition Act to be changed anyway.

In July of this year, Mr McKinnon's case was listed for a hearing after the High Court expressed concerns earlier in the year that his case was taking too long.

David Cameron and Barack Obama agree in March to review the operation of the controversial extradition treaty, but do not refer to specific cases.

This leads to the news announced by Theresa May today, where she declared that sending Mr McKinnon to the U.S. would be in breach of his human rights.