Lauri Love hacking case: NCA returns 25 seized items

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-32837235

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A man accused of hacking US government computers who is battling for the return of property seized by police has been given back 25 of the 31 items.

Lauri Love, of Suffolk, is seeking the return of devices seized by UK police.

Mr Love, 30, who faces no charges in Britain, is taking legal action against the National Crime Agency (NCA).

He revealed to the BBC that items such as laptops, computer towers, memory sticks and hard drives had now been returned.

The NCA confirmed that "some items of property" had been given back to him.

The items were seized from Mr Love's home in Stradishall after he was accused in the US of working to breach the security of the US military, US space agency Nasa, the Environmental Protection Agency, FBI and the US Federal Reserve, in October 2013.

In July 2014 the Crown Prosecution Service said he had been released from bail by the NCA.

The agency said it could not comment further as legal action against Mr Love was ongoing.

His case for the return of the final items of property goes before a district judge at Ipswich Magistrates' Court on 6 July.

The items not returned include a Samsung laptop which the NCA says is encrypted.

Mr Love said: "I am glad that 573 days after a bunch of uninvited guests turned up and took all my nice things, they have found it in their hearts to return, for example, my mother's computer with irreplaceable family photos and my mobile phone.

"The sanctity of private property and the limits of the authority of law enforcement to deprive and interfere with the same are fundamental to the universally admired and revered heritage of the English justice system, a model emulated around the world."

In February, the BBC revealed that the NCA was refusing to return all of Mr Love's computers because they could not decrypt some of the files.