UK to decide on Gary McKinnon's extradition by Oct. 16

The U.K.'s Home Office will decide by Oct. 16 whether to block the extradition to the U.S. of Gary McKinnon, who has admitted to hacking into U.S. government computers, McKinnon's attorney said on Thursday.

McKinnon, 46, of north London, was indicted in 2002 at the U.S. District Court in Virginia for hacking into 97 military and NASA computers between February 2001 and March 2002.

McKinnon's extradition, though approved by the British government in 2006, has been delayed by years of court reviews and legal maneuvering. His case stirred controversy over the fairness of the extradition treaty between the U.S. and U.K., although a legal review completed last October found it was not slanted against British defendants.