‘Cousin’ may spare hacker
A distant genealogical connection to Donald Trump might save a British computer hacker from a 99-year sentence in an American prison.
A key supporter of Lauri Love – who has Asperger’s syndrome and is facing extradition for hacking into US government computer networks – believes that she and the president-elect are cousins through their family links to the Clan MacLeod on the Isle of Lewis.
Janis Sharp, whose son Gary McKinnon was almost extradited to the United States on hacking charges, plans to write to Trump with a direct appeal to his Scottish heritage.
‘‘Surreal as it sounds I am related to Donald Trump,’’ Sharp says in a letter to The Times . ‘‘His mother, Mary MacLeod, was born to a Gaelic-speaking fisherman/ crofter a few miles from where my Gaelic-speaking crofter father lived, in a tiny population where the MacLeod clan were at that time all closely related.’’
Trump’s mother was born Mary Anne MacLeod in Tong on the Isle of Lewis in 1912 while Sharp’s father was Donald John Macleod, who was born around 1906 and grew up in the nearby village of Siadar an Rubha, or Shulishader.
Sharp said: ‘‘I think we would probably be second or third cousins but I’d need someone more knowledgeable to do the research to determine how closely linked we are to Donald Trump.
‘‘Lauri’s father is also Scottish, so I’ll be mentioning that too. I know it’s a long shot but you never know – Donald Trump is very proud of his Highland heritage.’’
Amber Rudd, the home secretary, has signed an order for Love’s extradition to America. Friends and family are campaigning to have this reversed because they say it puts him at heightened risk of suicide.