Wednesday 30th July 2008 - 12:10pm
Unidentified Flying Objects have been a source of fascination for years but Gary McKinnon took his obsession too far.
Glasgow computer whiz McKinnon claimed he was so curious about UFOs, he could not resist hacking into the US Government to search for clues that could unlock the mystery. Now he faces the heavy price of life behind bars for gaining access to 97 American military and Nasa computers from his London home. Today, he lost his appeal to the Law Lords against an order for his extradition to the US.
The an unemployed 42-year-old, faces up to 70 years in prison if convicted in the US of sabotaging vital defence systems. The House of Lords rejected the plea by McKinnon to quash the extradition request granted to the US authorities in 2006.
Lawyers for McKinnon, from Enfield, north London, pointed out that he could be sent to Guantanamo Bay as a terrorist suspect - despite his insistence that he accessed Pentagon computers looking for information about UFOs. But despite his sobering example, UFO fever is likely to hit the UK again with the arrival of the new X Files film, which premieres in London today.
There have already been a flurry of UFO sightings, particularly in western parts of the British Isles, further fuelling the debate. Just this weekend, a Devon couple said they saw a UFO over Dartmoor National Park. Wayne and Jo Taylor, from Ashburton, said they spotted a formation of a dozen slow-moving circular lights in the sky on Saturday night.Mr Taylor, 40, said that at one point the lights moved at a 90-degree angle, adding: "I have never seen anything like it."
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