“Gary McKinnon does not go abroad, ‘would rather be dead’, and does not go outside North London.” With these words, Janis Sharp explained the toll that this protracted decision had taken on Gary McKinnon.
Janis Sharp, Gary McKinnon’s mum, further thanked Theresa May in standing up against ‘a different nation’, ‘in having the strength’. Janis Sharp gave special tributes to Paul Dacre at the Daily Mail, and Michael Seamark and James Slack. ‘Without people power, there’s no way that Gary would have stayed here. The little person won.’ She described that ‘he had lost ten years of his youth, and ten years of his life.’ She suggested that individuals with Asperger’s syndrome tend to be very hard-working, and their talents should be nurtured and channeled.
Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty (“The National Council for Civil Liberties”), said it was a great day for ‘compassion and common sense’. She looked forward to the day when the basic case could be demonstrated in a local court. She has praised Janis Sharp for uniting lawyers, media people, and politicians in her campaign, and emphasised the urgent importance of the Human Rights Act.
People with autism have particular vulnerability in the criminal justice system, according to Mark Lever. Expert opinion is sought to understand the basic processes, and Mark Lever, Chief Executive of the National Autistic Society, wished Gary McKinnon ‘good luck’ in the next chapter in his life. Lever explained that expert evidence, treatment and testimony were needed to ‘make sure people with Asperger’s syndrome were best supported.’
David Burrowes, his MP and who has been fighting an extensive prolonged campaign on Gary’s part, described it as an occasion when ‘compassion and doing the right thing’ prevailed, and urged that this should not happen again. The solicitor, Karen Todner, MD of Kaim Todner’s Solicitors, who has represented Gary for ten years called it a ‘rollercoaster’, with support from many, including the general public, medical and legal professions, MPs from all parties, and Daily Mail. She emphasised that Gary had a clinical diagnosis of clinical depression, and therefore this might be a factor which Keir Starmer might like to consider in pursuing a CPS prosecution in considering Gary’s “fitness to plead”.
Edward Fitzgerald QC has thanked the Secretary for State for a ‘brave’ decision, applying the test under article 3. Extradition must be refused if there is convincing and independent evidence of a high risk of suicide. Five neuropsychiatric experts had given such a judgment, and so she was ‘entitled and obliged’ to make this decision. Without the Human Rights Act, it would not have been possible to block the extradition.
Ben Cooper from Doughty Street Chambers described that he had made full admissions in 2002, and had the CPS had charged him this protracted case could have been avoided. Cooper felt that this showed an inconsistency in charging decisions made by the CPS, making reliance on articles 3 and 8.
