THE mother of computer hacker Gary McKinnon has criticised the Home Secretary for linking her son to the September 11 terror attacks and the deaths of nearly 3,000 US citizens.

Janis Sharp said Alan Johnson was "doing America's job" when he should be standing up for British citizens.

She said her 43-year-old son, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome and is wanted for trial on charges of hacking into US military networks, could "easily" be tried in the UK if the Government wanted to intervene to stop his extradition.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Mr Johnson said it would be illegal for him to intervene, saying Mr McKinnon was accused of hacking into computers "shortly after the attacks of 9/11 which killed nearly 3,000 US citizens".

Ms Sharp told Sky News: "I was very disappointed because not only is he trying not to stand up for Gary's rights, he actually is trying to incriminate him by talking about 9/11 and all the people that died and then mentioning Gary's name.

"I don't expect him to actually be doing America's job, I expect him to be standing up for British citizens."

She admitted her son's actions had been "very stupid" and "ludicrous", but repeated her call for him to be tried in the UK.

"Gary's never said he should get off or he shouldn't face up to what he's done," she said.

"He should be tried here. If they (the Government) want to, they could quite easily stop this extradition."

Ms Sharp also said she still held hope that US President Barack Obama may intervene.