Decision on Gary McKinnon expected on 16 October

A DECISION on whether to extradite Gary McKinnon is due in a little more than one month, according to a statement from his mother, campaigner Janis Sharp.

Sharp told The INQUIRER today that a decision on the 16 October could bring an end to the ten year torment endured by her son. His lawyer, Karen Todner, also confirmed the date in a statement on her website.

"Theresa May is announcing her decision on Gary on the 16th October and will be announcing it in Parliament at the same time as she will be announcing her views [and] intentions with regard to the Scott Baker review, the Joint Parliamentary committee on Human Rights review and the Home Affairs select committee review, all on the Extradition Treaty," said Sharp in an email to The INQUIRER.

The decision, which the home office secretary put off in favour of enjoying the Olympics this Summer, is long overdue, and the McKinnon camp hopes that it will be a positive one.

If it is not, then a hearing will take place the next month, explained Karen Todner, the solicitor representing the accused hacker.

"The Home Secretary will make an announcement on or before 16th October 2012 regarding the extradition of Gary McKinnon to the United States of America," she explained.

"Should the decision from the Home Secretary not be in Mr McKinnon's favour, the High Court have fixed the case for hearing on 28th and 29th November 2012."

Sharp told us that she did not expect the appeal to be necessary, explaining that she is confident that the Home Secretary will rule in favour of keeping McKinnon in the UK.

"Both David Cameron the Prime Minister and Nick Clegg The Deputy Prime Minister used Gary as a core part of their election campaign to get into power. No Government would use a vulnerable autistic man to gain support from the British public to help them come into power, and then throw him to the dogs when they feel they no longer need him, after he had endured ten years of mental torment," she said.

"This would be political suicide. Dominic Grieve the Attorney General and almost all leading figures in the Coalition Government have announced their support for Gary and that he should be kept in the U.K."

The Prime Minister has asked President Obama three times for leniency, she added, and Obama has said that he will respect whatever decision the UK makes. Sharp said that a decision to let McKinnon leave the country would make the PM look weak, adding that this is something that she suspected he would like to avoid.

"If a Prime Minister could not achieve this from our closest ally for someone like my son Gary, then it would cast doubt on his capabilities, and would be a sad indictment of his leadership," she added.

"However I believe that David Cameron is easily strong enough to achieve this, and that the PM and Theresa May will come through for Gary. If Theresa May had already announced that Gary would be kept in the U.K, she would have achieved the loudest ever cheers at the Paralympics." µ