The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, has announced that the government will not seek to prosecute McKinnon, saying that the changes of successfully convicting him were "not high".
In a statement, Starmer said: "The potential difficulties in bringing a case in England and Wales now should not be underestimated, not least the passage of time, the logistics of transferring sensitive evidence prepared for a court in the US to London for trial, the participation of US government witnesses in the trial and the need fully to comply with the duties of disclosure imposed on the CPS.
"The prospects of a conviction against Mr McKinnon which reflects the full extent of his alleged criminality are not high. Against this background, the joint CPS/police panel recommended to the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police that he should not commence a new criminal investigation into Mr McKinnon. The Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has accepted that advice."
McKinnon admits accessing government computers in the United States, but says that he was looking for evidence of UFOs. The US claims that he caused nearly £500,000 worth of damage to computer systems in the process, and a successful conviction would have meant 60 years in prison for him. He suffers from Asperger's syndrome.
McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp, said in a statement that she was "pleased", and that the last ten years "have been gruelling". "To have this over is amazing," she added.
An extradition warrant still hangs over McKinnon's head, meaning that he can't travel outside of the United Kingdom. "We have discussed approaching president Obama and asking for a pardon," said Sharp
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US authorities have been seeking extradition since 2001 and 2002, when he undertook hacks of NASA and other military departments in what a prosecutor said was "the biggest hack of military computers ever." The US government accused McKinnon of hacking 73,000 federal and military computers and causing some $800,000 in damage.For his part, McKinnon admits that he hacked into Pentagon systems in 1999, but says that he had no ill intent. He says he was searching for evidence of UFOs and extraterrestrial life, and he thought the US might have energy technology that could aid humanity. McKinnon noted at the time that the hacks were easy, and denied getting caught – he said he told authorities about the security lapses.If convicted, 46-year-old McKinnon faces up to 60 years in a US jail.Gary McKinnon's extradition stalled after the May 2010 election in a disagreement over medical evidence that suggested he was psychologically so frail, it would be inhumane to allow foreign police to take him.The timetable has been set after the High Court intervened in July to end a stand-off between the government and the hacker’s legal team. The High Court gave McKinnon two weeks to decide whether to submit to a medical examination by a psychologist under the direction of home secretary Teresa May.May had been unsatisfied with diagnoses made by some of the world's leading experts in autism, who had said McKinnon was not fit to stand trial and that extradition would cause him so much torment he would likely commit suicide.McKinnon has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism characterised by abnormally low emotional intelligence and can "meltdown" under everyday social pressures.The home secretary wanted another examination conducted by an official Home Office psychologist. But McKinnon, backed by the National Autistic Society, protested that her official was not an expert in autism and could not understand his uniquely vulnerable condition.