A married British father who hacked into 772 webcams across the world and collected sexual images should not face extradition to the US, a judge has ruled.
Hacker Christopher Taylor, 57, tricked people in 39 different countries into downloading a computer program and then spied on them from his home in Wigan between 2012 and 2015.
The dad-of-three gathered hundreds of images, including ‘people in various stages of undress and involved in sexual activity’ – and says he was addicted to seeing into other people’s webcams.
Taylor was only caught when administrators at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, alerted the FBI to malware being installed on a student’s laptop at the university’s aerospace laboratory, Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told.
In an interview with an FBI special agent and a Greater Manchester Police detective in 2016, he confessed to using his program to take over webcams before downloading screenshots and videos.
Taylor is wanted in the US to face trial on an indictment alleging one offence of wire fraud and two of computer fraud and claims the images were not used for ‘sexual gratification’.
But District Judge Michael Fanning on Monday ordered Taylor’s discharge from the extradition request after his lawyers argued he should instead face proceedings in the UK, where no criminal investigation has yet been launched.
Judge Fanning said: ‘I do find in your favour. I do find extradition would not be in the interests of justice.’
But, he added: ‘You should note, the US government can appeal against my decision or they may choose to provide evidence to the authorities in the UK so you can be prosecuted here.’
Daniel Sternberg, representing the US government, indicated the US would appeal. Some 52 victims were identified in both the US and the UK.
But Taylor’s lawyer, Ben Cooper QC, argued his client should face proceedings in England, where he would likely be handed a suspended prison sentence if convicted.
The barrister said in written submissions Taylor had not used the malware for ‘sexual gratification’ or targeted anyone in particular but had an ‘obsessive interest in computers and hacking’.
Mr Cooper said: ‘He would try to build fast computers and play video games for hours on end every night. He also became fascinated by the idea that he would be able to see through other people’s webcams – describing it himself as an “addiction”.
‘It is submitted that it is not in the interests of justice to extradite Mr Taylor given the entirety of the activity for which Mr Taylor is charged was carried out in Mr Taylor’s home in Wigan, England, where he still resides and has strong and significant family connections and only 7% of the victims were based in the US at the time with 93% outside of the US.’
The court heard ‘CyberGate’ and other remote access tools were found on Taylor’s computer along with some 772 files – one per victim – containing hundreds of saved webcam images.
The judge said in a written judgment: ‘None, it would seem, were aware of (Taylor’s) illicit observation of them. Certainly, none of them consented to it.’
Taylor, who could not access the court’s video-link system and appeared on his lawyer’s laptop, was granted conditional bail.
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