Thousands sign Turing petition

Thousands have signed a Downing Street petition calling for a posthumous apology for the case Alan Turing, who designed a machine that cracked German codes during the Second World War and is considered the father of computing.

Turing was convicted of "gross indecency" after he admitted a sexual relationship with a man, and was chemically castrated. Two years later, in 1954, he killed himself, eating an apple laced with poison, at the age of 54.

The petition calls on the Prime Minister to "apologise for the prosecution of Alan Turing that led to his untimely death", and has attracted over 10,000 signatures.