Hacking suspect Ryan Cleary suffers from autism, court told

Teenager accused of hacking offences during probe into LulzSec group has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome

The British teenager accused of bringing down the website of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a court has heard.

Ryan Cleary, 19, of South Beech Avenue, Wickford, Essex, was arrested as part of a Scotland Yard and FBI probe into hacking group LulzSec.

His lawyer told City of Westminster magistrates court on Saturday that Cleary has the form of autism, along with agoraphobia.

District judge Nicholas Evans heard that Cleary's condition had been diagnosed by a psychologist.

Cleary did not enter any plea to the five offences under the Criminal Law and Computer Misuse Act with which he is charged.

He was granted bail but remains in custody after prosecutors objected. An appeal will be heard at Southwark crown court on Monday. The teenager spoke only to confirm his name and to say that he understood the proceedings.

He was arrested at his family home on Monday as part of a Scotland Yard and FBI probe into LulzSec, a group that claims responsibility for hacking attempts on Soca, the US Senate and the CIA.

He is charged with conspiring with other people on or before 20 June to create a remotely controlled network of zombie computers, known as a "botnet", to carry out distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, where websites are flooded with traffic to make them crash.

He is alleged to have carried out similar attacks against the British Phonographic Industry's website on 29 October last year and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's website on or before 20 June.

Cleary's case has parallels with that of Gary McKinnon, who has Asperger's and is fighting extradition to America over allegations of hacking into US military computers.


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