Gary McKinnon with Janis Sharp

A POWERFUL committee of MPs has told the Home Secretary that he CAN block the extradition of an autistic man who is wanted in the US on computer hacking charges.

Keith Vaz, the chairman of the influential Home Affairs Select Committee, has written to Alan Johnson to advise him that he has the power to refuse requests to hand Asperger’s sufferer Gary McKinnon over to the authorities in Washington.

Gary’s mum Janis Sharp, who lives in Brookmans Park, said she was “really pleased” that Mr Vaz had decided to intervene.

For more on this story, see this week’s Welwyn Hatfield Times, out tomorrow (Wednesday).