Manning confessed to leaks, hacker tells court

The US government last night completed laying out its case against the Army intelligence analyst blamed for the biggest leak of national secrets in American history.

Prosecutors yesterday called their final six witnesses in the case against alleged WikiLeaks source Private Bradley Manning.

Among them was convicted former hacker Adrian Lamo, who told the military court that the depth of Private Manning's confession in internet chats compelled him to alert authorities.

Private Manning is accused of providing a massive number of US secrets to the WikiLeaks website. The hearing is to determine whether the 24-year-old should be court-martialled. His lawyers have yet to acknowledge or deny his responsibility for the leaks.