Gary McKinnon believes that he could be sent to Guantanamo Bay and tried by a military tribunal if his extradition goes ahead. He said that he was “practically already hung and quartered” if US government claims that he would face a federal court in Virginia proved correct.

Mr McKinnon, 40, is alleged to have caused $700,000 (£375,000) of damage in 2001-02 by hacking into US military computers, including army, navy, Pentagon and Nasa systems, using software available on the internet.

At Bow Street Magistrates’ Court in London yesterday, District Judge Nicholas Evans said that Mr McKinnon, of Wood Green, North London, should be recommended for extradition. The case is expected to be passed to John Reid, the Home Secretary, for a final decision.

The US Government said it had given assurances that it would not make Mr McKinnon subject to “Military Order No 1”, which allows President Bush to detain suspects indefinitely. But outside court, Mr McKinnon said that he remained fearful.

“As one person has said to me, most people in Guantanamo have not been proved to be terrorists but allegedly I directly attacked the military. And Virginia is famously conservative. I’m practically already hung and quartered over there,” he said.

Speaking after being released on conditional bail, he said that he had expected yesterday’s ruling and was now preparing to appeal. In a direct appeal to Mr Reid, he added: “Do right by your subjects.”

Mr McKinnon is alleged to have stolen 950 passwords and deleted system files from computers at the Earle US Naval Weapons Station in New Jersey, shutting down the entire base for a week immediately after September 11.

Although he said yesterday that he regretted his actions, he denied that he had ever intended to disrupt security. “The fact that I logged on there and there were no passwords means that there was no security.

“I was amazed at the lack of security and the reason I left not just one note but multiple notes on multiple desktops was to say, ‘Look, this is ridiculous’.” When asked why he had hacked into US defence systems, Mr McKinnon, whose hacking name was Solo, said that he had been looking for evidence of UFOs.

In a lengthy judgment delivered a month after April’s extradition hearing, Judge Evans said that the risk of Mr McKinnon being sent to Guantanamo was “fanciful” given the assurances made on behalf of the American Government.

“I have no difficulty in concluding that anyone facing extradition to the United States who faced a real risk of being charged under Military Order No 1 should not be extradited. For over 150 years we have had extradition arrangements with the United States. Many hundreds of extraditions have taken place over the years in both directions . . . It is inconceivable, given the unequivocal assurances, and all that history and extradition experience, that the Government would risk damaging, perhaps irretrievably damaging, our extradition arrangements by not honouring the assurances.”

The judge rejected claims under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights that Mr McKinnon’s right to private and family life should prevent his extradition. He told the court: “I readily accept, if convicted in the United States, the probable sentence is likely to be appreciably harsher than, in comparable circumstances, it would be in the United Kingdom. It must be obvious to any defendant that if you choose to commit a crime in a foreign country, you run the risk of being prosecuted in that country.”

Mr McKinnon faces seven charges of “computer fraud and related activity” in Virginia, according to the US Department of Justice website. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

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