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Gary McKinnon's mother snubbed in Commons by Alan Johnson
By Michael Seamark
Last updated at 11:41 PM on 10th November 2009
The mother of Gary McKinnon was snubbed by the Home Secretary yesterday as she approached him for a face-to-face discussion.
Janis Sharp was offered no more than a handshake from Alan Johnson, the man who holds her son's 'life in his hands'. He said a meeting with her would be 'inappropriate'.
Asperger's sufferer Gary, 43, faces extradition to the U.S. for hacking into Nasa and Pentagon computers. If found guilty he could be sent to prison for up to 60 years.
Rebuffed: Gary McKinnon with his mother Janis Sharp, who approached the Home Secretary yesterday in a bid to discuss the plight of her son
Mrs Sharp has been repeatedly rebuffed in her attempts to discuss the plight of her son with the Home Secretary.
But yesterday the pair were giving evidence to the parliamentary committee meeting specifically convened in Westminster to discuss the role of the Home Secretary in the controversial 2003 Extradition Act.
After making her last-gasp plea to the powerful group of MPs to help stop the extradition, the mother and minister came together during a break in proceedings.
But a group of female government 'minders' formed a barrier between Mrs Sharp and Mr Johnson, who merely retreated further away from her.
As the Home Secretary walked back into the room to resume giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee, Mrs Sharp took the opportunity to approach the politician, offered her hand, and said: 'I'm Gary's mum.'
Mr Johnson briefly shook her hand and carried on walking.
Face-to-face: Home Secretary Alan Johnson could only offer Ms Sharp a handshake
Afterwards Mrs Sharp said: 'This is the man who has Gary's life in his hands. If I could meet him perhaps I could make him realise what Gary and our family have gone through for seven-and-a-half years.
'But he seems so very defensive, fixated in thinking that it is right to send Gary to the United States.'
Until recently Mr Johnson claimed he was powerless to prevent Gary being sent for trial in America.
But last month he announced he had delayed the process to allow him to consider the powerful new evidence concerning Gary's state of mind.
Mr Johnson made the unexpected move after Mr McKinnon had lost his last legal battle to take his case to the Supreme Court.
Medical experts have already warned the hacker may take his own life if sent to stand trial across the Atlantic.
Mrs Sharp warned MPs yesterday: 'He would rather be dead than extradited - and that's the reality.
She told the committee: 'Every waking second he feels in terror. This has ruined Gary's life, it's ruined our lives - all our lives are on hold.
'He is an innocent. He is straightforward and gentle. Now if someone talks to him he jumps.'
Mrs Sharp bitterly attacked the extradition treaty, pushed through in the aftermath of 9/11, ostensibly to fight the war on terror but hugely controversial from the outset.
Crucially, the U.S. can demand a Briton's extradition without having to provide any evidence - but Britain has to prove its case in a U.S. court.
Judges can refuse extradition on only very limited grounds, such as abuse of human rights, but Mr McKinnon's legal team have virtually exhausted all domestic legal challenges to his extradition.
Mrs Sharp said: 'We thought this treaty was mainly for terrorists. People like Gary are not terrorists.
'Surely Alan Johnson can stand up to the Americans and say, "this is wrong".'
But the Home Secretary told the committee he had discretion 'in certain areas but not in this'.
However, Mr Johnson said he was considering the fresh psychiatric report on Mr McKinnon because it wasn't available during the court hearings.
'It says that Gary McKinnon's psychological state is worse. It said there is a propensity to suicide and said this had become much greater.'
Mrs Sharp told MPs the new psychiatric evidence being considered by Mr Johnson was the 'last throw of the dice' with only a last- ditch appeal to Strasbourg
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