Incredible! We’ve do Gary declares mum Ne it, we’ve won for through tears of joy
eVeRYTHING she had fought to achieve these last ten years seemed somehow to fade into the background.
Gary McKinnon’s mother Janis Sharp had clambered over every legal obstacle, jumped every hurdle, struggled through all the pain and frustration to get to this moment.
Now she was sitting in front of a dozen TV cameras from both sides of the Atlantic, finally able to savour the words she had waited so long to speak: British justice.
At long last, this was the day a woman who took on governments, stood resolute against threats and resolutely refused to give up, was able to claim victory in the name of her son. It didn’t come easily.
So yesterday, at a deeply emotional milestone in her tireless battle against the establishment, she could be forgiven for shedding tears.
They came first for Gary – tears of anguish at the mere thought that her only child would almost certainly have taken his own life had US authorities been allowed to extradite him to face trial, and a sentence of 60 years in jail.
Then there were tears of joy – at what she called the ‘incredible release’ from a burden that repeatedly came close to crushing her spirit, her energy and most importantly, her extraordinarily brave campaign.
‘We’ve done it,’ the 63-year-old announced
‘An emotional rollercoaster’
triumphantly. ‘ We’ve won for Gary, and we’ve won for the little person against the establishment, and that is an incredible achievement.’ Dabbing at her eyes she added: ‘It’s been an emotional rollercoaster. I’m overwhelmed... but incredibly happy. It seems odd that I’m crying now but it’s the culmination of ten years and seven months.’
Janis paid tribute to the Home Secretary, saying: ‘I want to say thank you to Theresa May because it’s an incredibly brave decision to stand up to another nation as strong and as powerful as America – and she had the guts to do it.’
She told the press conference: ‘I want to thank Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail, who has stood up for Gary non- stop for years – and Michael Seamark and James Slack, who have been amazing.’ She thanked the media and added: ‘Without their support we could never have done it.’
The nightmare had begun one day in 2002, with a phone call Gary made to his mother to tell her he had been arrested for hacking into US Defense Department computer systems. The British police who held him said he would probably get six months’ community service. Later a US prosecutor warned he would ‘fry’ if he didn’t halt his extradition fight.
Contrast the impact that first phone call would have on any mother with the one Janis received yesterday after a long, sleepless night of anticipation, hope, excitement and fear.
Some time around 11am, Gary’s solicitor Karen Todner rang to say Theresa May had boldly blocked his extradition. One word perfectly encapsulated everything the lawyer told her. Victory.
‘When Karen first rang she was just crying,’ Janis told the Daily Mail. ‘She spoke to Wilson [Janis’s husband Wilson Sharp] and he started crying too. I just thought, “Oh no. This must be bad news.” Then I took the phone – and suddenly, all three of us were crying.’
Minutes later, Janis rang Gary at a friend’s home and asked someone to film his reaction before they passed the phone to him. ‘When I first spoke to Gary I felt I had to ease him into the conversation because it was such massive news,’ she said.
‘I told him that the Government was going to change the forum system, and said it was all down to him and our campaign. Then I said, “Oh they’ve also dropped the extradition”. It seemed like an age before he said anything. In fact it was at least a minute, which is a long time to listen to silence on a mobile phone. Then he finally spoke. He was incredibly tearful.’
Later she would reveal that the family had spent most of their time together ‘just hugging and crying, crying and hugging’.
Asked about the outcome her face lit up with smiles as she declared: ‘The sense of relief for both of us is unbelievable. The Americans were talking about a 60-year sentence – ten years for each count he faced. If
he had to serve that, he would never come home. He would die in the United States. I remember Nick Clegg saying some time ago that if Gary went to the US he would never see British soil again. The whole idea of Gary dying abroad just terrified me.’
Janis’s fight was championed by the Daily Mail and backed by an impressive roll call of celebrities, civil rights groups, brilliant legal minds and so- called ordinary people.
Yesterday in front of the cameras at her lawyers’ London chambers, she thanked as many as she could remember in the space of a few seconds – and apologised to the ‘millions’ she must have left out. It had been billed as a victory press conference to celebrate a momentous turning point and courageous legal decision in this remarkable battle.
Yet the opportunity to grandstand her triumph never overtook Janis’s palpable relief that the extradition fight was almost over now, and that an english court could now decide her son’s fate.
This was a woman, after all, who had confronted and berated politicians, enlisted the help of a president and a prime minister, celebrities and notables; devoted most of her waking hours to her quest; and who was perfectly happy to stand outside the Home Office with a placard around her neck just to draw attention to Gary’s plight. In the whirlwind of yesterday’s ruling, she hadn’t even had time to celebrate properly.
She was asked if she thought it was a life-saving decision. ‘I know it’s been a life saving decision,’ she replied. ‘ Gary doesn’t travel abroad. He doesn’t go on holiday. He very rarely leaves London. To be taken away from everything you know, and away from all your family, and taken thousands of miles away, is absolutely terrifying.’
Victory, however, came at a price. ‘He has lost ten years of his youth,’ she said. ‘He has lost ten years of his life. But the actual release of knowing he is here is just incredible. It’s such a weight off our shoulders.’ She never mentioned the years she, too, had sacrificed – but revealed that her son’s decline into depression had deeply affected her as a mother.
‘He would just sit in the dark all the time,’ she told us. ‘He’s a really good musician but he hasn’t picked up a musical instrument for years because of what it would bring up.’ He had been banned from using a computer to go online and had simply ‘shut down’, she said.
earlier she revealed to the Mail that Gary was scared to go out in case he was recognised. He was attacked in the street a few months ago by some youngsters who had been taking drugs. They did not know who he was when they mugged him – but it forced him into further reclusive behaviour.
‘It’s such a waste of talent,’ she said. ‘It’s been awful to see him go downhill. But it’s such a relief to see him smile for the first time in many years now. It’s amazing.’