Gary McKinnon

LONDON, England (CNN) — The Briton accused of hacking into U.S. Government computers looking for UFOs lost his court appeal to have his case heard in Britain, his legal team said.

The decision means Gary McKinnon faces extradition to the United States, where he is wanted for allegedly hacking into computers at the Pentagon and NASA.

McKinnon, who has admitted breaking the law and intentionally gaining unauthorized access to computer systems, wanted to be tried in Britain rather than the United States.

The U.S. government says McKinnon carried out the biggest military computer hacking of all time, accessing 97 computers from his home in London for a year starting in March 2001 and costing the government about $1 million.

McKinnon, currently free on bail in England, has said he was simply doing research to find out whether the U.S. Government was covering up the existence of UFOs.

Gary McKinnon told the BBC he broke into 97 US Government computers on a “moral crusade” to prove US intelligence had found an alien craft that is able to run on clean fuel.

U.S. federal prosecutors accuse McKinnon of breaking into military, NASA and civilian networks and accessing computers at the Pentagon; Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Meade, Maryland; the Earle Naval Weapons Station in Colts Neck, New Jersey; and the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, among others.

Read the full CNN article here

Related articles:
Hacker’s ‘moral crusade’ over UFO truth
UFO hacker, Gary McKinnon should be praised and not punished