**Computer hacker Gary McKinnon has been refused permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court against his extradition to the US.**The High Court ruled the case was not of “general public importance” to go to the UK’s highest court.
Glasgow-born Mr McKinnon, 43, of Wood Green, London, is accused of breaking into the US’s military computer system.
Mr Mickinnon, who has Asperger’s syndrome, insists he was just seeking evidence of UFOs.
In July he lost a High Court bid to avoid extradition.
‘Sacrificial lambs’
Mr McKinnon could face 60 years in prison if convicted in the US.
His lawyers have said they may now take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
They argue that extradition of their client would have “disastrous consequences” for his health, including possible psychosis and suicide.
Mr McKinnon had challenged the refusal of Keir Starmer QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, to put him on trial in the UK on charges of computer misuse - which would have allowed him to avoid extradition.
Reacting after the latest ruling, his mother Janis Sharp said no other country would offer its citizens to the US so readily “as sacrificial lambs” just to safeguard the special political relationship.
She said: “To use my desperately vulnerable son in this way is despicable, immoral and devoid of humanity.”