Alan Johnson throws Gary McKinnon a lifeline

Home Secretary Alan Johnson seems finally to be showing some sympathy for alleged computer hacker Gary McKinnon. At the eleventh hour, he has halted McKinnon's extradition to the USA, telling MPs he has "stopped the clock" on the process in order to consider fresh evidence about McKinnon's health.

In July, the High Court rejected McKinnon's bid to avoid extradition and face trial instead in the UK. His supporters say they fear he may be sent to a maximum security jail, where they say he would be a suicide risk. The 43-year-old has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism.

McKinnon, who was refused permission to appeal to Britain's new Supreme Court earlier this month, is accused of breaking into the Pentagon's military networks shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but claims he was looking only for evidence of UFOs.

Some of his supporters see his case as representing an imbalance in the extradition treaty between the US and UK, devised in 2003 to allow terrorism suspects to be sent to America, which they say favours the US.

The Home Secretary, who until now has shown little compassion in the McKinnon case, told MPs: "We have stopped the clock ticking on the representation to the European court because new medical evidence has been provided.

"There are two issues upon which Gary McKinnon's legal advisors have argued: the first is that the director of public prosecutions should have tried him in this country. The high court in July dismissed that, and wouldn't allow it to go to judicial review.

"I have to ensure that his Article 3 human rights are being respected. It's that new medical evidence that I will be looking at very carefully".

McKinnon's mother, Janice Sharp, told the Times: "The evidence is very powerful. I'm really glad the Home Secretary has decided to look at it, because Gary's health has already deteriorated so much. After eight years of constant stress, he is suicidal.

"We should not have a Government that is so powerless it cannot stand up against America for the right of its own citizens."

McKinnon's MP, David Burrowes, the Conservative Member for Enfield Southgate, supported the campaign to have him tried in the UK, and now says the new medical evidence is "compelling". He has asked the Home Secretary to further delay executing the extradition order until after an investigation into the treaty has been carried out by the home affairs select committee.