McKinnon granted legal review over Asperger's diagnosis

The High Court has said that McKinnon's lawyers can present their arguments at a March hearing convened to decide whether he can appeal his extradition to the US on hacking charges.

McKinnon has admitted to hacking into NASA, US military and Pentagon computers in 2000 and 2001, but denies US prosecutors' claims about how much damage he did. He is currently due to be extradited to the US to face charges that US prosecutors say could result in a 70-year prison sentence.

The Home Office has approved his extradition, but McKinnon's legal team said that it had not given enough consideration to McKinnon's medical condition and the impact that extradition or imprisonment could have on him. His lawyers said he would be likely to become suicidal if taken away from his family and familiar surroundings, Associated Press reported.

McKinnon's lawyers said that no UK court had yet considered the impact of his illness in considering his case.

The High Court gave McKinnon permission to seek a judicial review of the Home Office's approval of his extradition. That process has put a block for now on his extradition.

McKinnon is also pursuing another legal avenue in his attempts to avoid extradition. He has always asked to be tried in the UK for his actions and his legal team submitted a further request for a UK prosecution and trial to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) earlier this month.

DPP Keir Starmer is expected to decide next month whether that submission, which included a signed confession by McKinnon, will result in a UK prosecution. That would effectively block the extradition, McKinnon's lawyer recently told OUT-LAW.COM.