Gov't: McKinnon can have more time

LONDON, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- British computer hacker Gary McKinnon can have extra time to prepare his legal fight against extradition to the United States, officials said.

British government lawyers said they would waive a 14-day deadline for McKinnon to make representations to allow his attorneys to consider the evidence, The Times of London reported Saturday.

Washington is seeking the extradition of McKinnon, 43, accused of hacking into 97 military computers and causing $800,000 in damage. The Times said McKinnon has admitted hacking into Pentagon computers but denies it was malicious, and is battling to have his trial held in Britain rather than in the United States, where he could face up to 70 years in prison.

"We do take some hope from this," Karen Todner, McKinnon's lawyer, told the newspaper. "It is the first time that (British Home Secretary) Alan Johnson will have a proper opportunity to consider the reports in this case and it shows that he is taking it seriously. In the meantime we don't want to be hammering on his door."

McKinnon's mother says the hacking was done out of obsessive-compulsive behavior resulting from Asperger syndrome, a disorder related to autism, and that her son is suicidal.