Teenager bailed on hacking charges

A teenager appeared in court today charged with hacking into websites, including that of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).

Jake Davis, 18, was arrested at his home on the Shetland Islands by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service's e-crime unit as part of an investigation into hacking groups LulzSec and Anonymous.

The alleged hacker is said to use the online nickname "Topiary" and present himself as a spokesman for the two groups.

He faces five charges, including conspiring to carry out a distributed denial of service attack on the police agency.

Such attacks see websites flooded with traffic to make them crash.

Davis is also charged with gaining unauthorised access to a computer system, encouraging or assisting offences and with two counts of conspiracy to commit offences.

He appeared in custody at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London to face the charges and was released on bail by District Judge Howard Riddle.

Davis, wearing a denim shirt with black T-shirt underneath, spoke only to confirm his personal details.

He will next appear at Southwark Crown Court on August 30.

LulzSec has also been linked to hacking attempts on the NHS, Sony, and The Sun newspaper, the court heard.

The charges faced by Davis are also linked to a security breach at Sony's offices in San Diego, US, in which the bank details of customers of the computer giant were accessed, prosecutor Rav Chodha said.

He is also said to have been involved in the alleged hacking of the websites of News International titles, including The Sun and The Times.

In addition, the court heard Davis is accused of being involved in the hacking of the East London National Health Service Foundation Trust website.

The teenager, whose mother attended court today, was bailed to an address in Spalding, Lincolnshire, where she lives. District Judge Riddle imposed a curfew from 10pm to 7am, ordering Davis to wear an electronic tag.

He also told the teenager he was not allowed to access the internet through a computer or mobile phone, either himself or by asking someone to do it for him.

PA