By Peter Jeary, NBC News, October 16, 2012

LONDON - A British computer hacker has won his 10-year fight against extradition to the U.S. with the U.K. government saying he was unfit to face the charges against him.

In a statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday, Britain’s Home Secretary Theresa May said that the extradition of Gary McKinnon, a 46-year-old computer administrator from London, "would give rise to such a high risk of him ending his life that extradition would be incompatible with Mr. McKinnon’s human rights. There is no doubt that Mr. McKinnon is accused of serious crimes, but there is also no doubt he is seriously ill," she said.

McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome – a high-functioning form of autism – admits hacking into U.S. military computers, but claims he was looking for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Warrants for his arrest were issued in New Jersey and Virginia in late 2002 [....]