A hacker who allegedly infiltrated the computer systems of the FBI, the American Missile Defence Agency and Nasa is to be extradited to the US where he might face up to 99 years in jail if convicted – despite a British court hearing he has Asperger’s and may kill himself in prison. American authorities have been fighting for the 31-year-old, who lives with his parents near Newmarket in Suffolk, to face trial over charges of cyber-hacking, which his lawyers say could mean a sentence of up to 99 years in prison if found guilty. • Security services lose fight to force alleged cyber hacker to hand over his secret passwords

Mr Love stood in the dock, wearing a purple sash as a belt, as district judge Nina Tempia ruled he can be extradited to the US, where he could face the possibility of three separate trials in different jurisdictions. Ten days ago, Mr Love himself told a BBC interviewer: “If I went into a US prison, I don't think I'd leave again.”

But, in a case with strong echoes of hacker and Asperger’s sufferer Gary McKinnon’s ten-year fight against extradition, District Judge Nina Tempia told Westminster Magistrates’ Court: “I am going to extradite Mr Love.”

The McKinnon case had ended in 2012 when Theresa May, who was then Home Secretary, blocked Mr McKinnon’s extradition, saying he was a suicide risk. Image copyright PA Image caption Lauri Love spoke to members of the press outside Westminster Magistrates' Court before the hearing

Mr Love's lawyers said he could face up to 99 years in prison if convicted of the hacking offences. The case was considered to be the first substantive test of the “forum bar”, which was introduced by Theresa May when she was home secretary to allow courts to block extradition if it is in the interests of justice to have a person tried in Britain instead. The computer science graduate’s father Rev Alexander Love, who himself works with vulnerable prisoners at risk of suicide, told Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London he feared his son might take his own life. “It is my belief that it is not fair or just that a boy who has mental health issues can be taken away from his family, who are his support network, merely to satisfy the desire of the Americans, to exact what I feel is vengeance on him.”

Outside court Mr Love’s solicitor Karen Todner said they were “extremely disappointed” with the decision. She pledged to appeal against the decision, initially at the high court and, if necessary, to the supreme court and eventually the European court of human rights in Strasbourg.
The United Kingdom agrees to allow alleged hacker Lauri Love to be extradited to the United States.