Ruling due on hacker extradition

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The Law Lords are due to decide whether a Briton accused of hacking into top secret military computers should be extradited to the US to stand trial.

Gary McKinnon, 42, from London, admits breaking into the computers but says he was trying to find information on UFOs.

The US government accuses him of hacking into 97 American military and Nasa computers in 2001 and 2002.

Extradition proceedings began three years ago, and Glasgow-born Mr McKinnon could face a life sentence in the US.

He lost his case at the High Court in 2006 and went straight to the highest court in the country, the House of Lords.

Critical systems

The US government says he committed a malicious crime - the biggest military computer hack ever.

He is accused of hacking into the computers with the intention of intimidating the US government.

Prosecutors say he altered and deleted files at a naval air station not long after the September 11th attacks in 2001, rendering critical systems inoperable.

Mr McKinnon has admitted that he accessed computers in the US without authority.

But he says he is just a bumbling computer nerd, whose motives were harmless and innocent. He denies any attempts at sabotage.

He says he wanted to find evidence of UFOs that he believed was being held by the US authorities.