15 March 2013
The UK-US extradition treaty of 2003 came under fire when the US demanded the extradition of Gary McKinnon, the Aspergers’ sufferer who had been hacking US military systems, only for Home Secretary Theresa May to intervene last year.
But is there a process for extradition here if, for example, the British authorities investigating phone-hacking wanted to bring someone back from the US? According to the US Embassy in London, the Americans have never turned down a request for extradition and there have been more than 54 since the treaty was signed nearly a decade ago.
If only there was a US ambassador to whom we could pose this hypothetical question.
