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McKinnon's solicitor had contacted Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, asking that McKinnon be allowed to stand trial and serve any prison sentence in the UK. However, this claim has been unsuccessful.

Last month McKinnon also had an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights turned down, prompting suggestions that he would be extradited within a fortnight. Prior to the appeal a US prosecutor claimed that McKinnon was simply "grasping at straws".

McKinnon

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is now thought to be considering a judicial review, which would require that he assemble a case within the next fortnight to be presented before the Administrative Court.

The Administrative Court has the power to quash previous rulings if it finds the claimants rights have been violated by existing legal procedure.

The hacker claims that his intrusion attempts were harmless and caused in part by his Asperger Syndrome, which caused him to become obsessed with the thought of finding proof of the existence of aliens on US military computers, and that extradition would be a breach of his human rights.

The US military has not taken the intrusion lightly, however, labelling McKinnon a threat to national security, and calling his attacks "the biggest military hack of all time". If extradited McKinnon faces up to 60 years in jail.

If he can win an appeal against extradition then it is likely that he would receive a more lenient sentence in the UK, possibly in the order of three to four years, claims his lawyer.