Lauri Love extradition: Father of son with Aspergers says he fears he will kill himself

Lauri Love is accused of stealing sensitive data from Nasa and the US military (PA)

A man suffering from depression and Asperger syndrome says he will kill himself if he is extradited to the US on charges of computer hacking, his father has said.

Lauri Love, 31, is accused of hacking into US Federal Reserve computers and has vowed to fight "barbaric" attempts to extradite him to America "all the way".

Mr Love, who lives with his parents in Suffolk, will appear in court on Tuesday accused of stealing massive quantities of data from Nasa and US government computers.

The American authorities want him to stand trial for cyberhacking in the US where, according to his lawyers, he could spend up to 99 years in prison if found guilty.

Mr Love, who has been diagnosed with Aspergers and suffers from chronic eczema, says he will not go to America "under any condition whatsoever" and his father, Alexander, who now works as a prison chaplain, fears his son will kill himself rather than be extradited.

Mr Love told the BBC: "My son has Aspergers and depression. He also suffers from very bad eczema and asthma, which have psychological triggers and, at the very heart of it all, is his emphatic statement that he will kill himself.

"When Lauri says he will kill himself if he is taken to America, I believe he is stating something he intends to do.

"He needs the support of his family. He chooses to live at home because it's the only place he feels safe. If the Americans have their way, a whole ocean will be put between us and him."

His case echoes that of Gary McKinnon, another alleged cyberhacker with Aspergers who was eventually spared extradition when the Home Secretary intervened in a decade-long battle.

Mr Love said Theresa May should consider if she had a duty to intervene on his behalf too.

He said: "I would ask her if she feels she has an obligation and a duty of care to UK citizens to shield them from relatively barbaric treatment.

"I have not been accused of any violent offending but am facing potentially the rest of my life in a foreign prison where I have no friends and family. I think this is something to consider and try to avoid.

"We should assert the sovereignty of our legal system, which actually gave birth to US law, and we should consider ourselves intelligent and competent and capable enough to have our own legal system and not require that foreign powers step in."

Mr Love, an electrical engineering student at the University Campus Suffolk, said he has not been able to view any of the evidence against him.

All he wants, he says, is an opportunity to defend himself in a British court, according to British laws and standards.

He said: "I haven't been afforded the opportunity to contest the allegations.

"I have not been charged. I've been indicted in America. The Americans don't give me any access to the evidence, and I don't really intend to have a trial over there.

"I'm hoping after the extradition is refused there will be charges here in the UK, and at that point I can actually formulate a defence."

Like many alleged cyberhackers who have gone through the courts before him, he now wants to put his skills and knowledge to good use.

He has launched a start-up with a friend to advise clients how to beef up their cyber security and says he is working with the Royal Household to set up a Cub Scout-style education programme that gives children badges for completing computer challenges.

As his father said: "He was the poacher who has become the game keeper."