Photos: McKinnon "distraught" says family

Anger boiled over into tears as the distraught friends and family of Nasa hacker Gary McKinnon picketed the Home Office in a last ditch attempt to block his extradition.

His mother Janis McKinnon and girlfriend Lucy Clarke, pictured here, broke down as they wrestled with the imminent departure of McKinnon to the US where he faces up to 60 years in jail.

The refusal of his appeal by the European courts has devastated McKinnon, said Clarke, leaving him "staring into space" and scared "they could put him on a plane at any minute".

Mrs McKinnon said the family has already suffered a "six-and-a-half year sentence" battling his extradition in the courts all the way to the House of Lords, which rejected his appeal in July.

Around 30 of McKinnon's friends and family gathered in front of the Home Office building in London yesterday for the protest, shouting "free Gary" and "prosecute Jacqui Smith".

McKinnon is due to face trial over allegations he broke into more than 90 US military systems, including those belonging to Nasa, in 2001 and 2002 while hacking under the alias Solo.

Photo credit: Nick Heath/silicon.com