by Sharp, Janis
Rebecca was beaming during the ceremony as she pronounced Steve and Pauline man and wife, and everyone in the room was smiling and laughing. The music was interesting and included The Corrs’ ‘Toss the Feathers’, a rock version of a traditional Irish jig, and the atmosphere was as warm as the sunshine. We all poured out of the French windows to have photos taken in the gardens and it was truly a day to remember.
Two women were surprised to see that they were wearing identical bright red frilly dresses and the photographer literally took hours to take the photos, but everyone was happy and smiled continuously throughout.
The wedding reception was held at Pauline’s brother’s house. Her sister-in-law Lorraine, with her art students, had pasted huge photos of Steve and Pauline onto the outside and inside doors of the house and onto all the cupboard doors.
The photos were from each of their childhoods, up to the present day, and displayed a photographic history of their youth and of their lives together. It was beautiful.
This had been a good day.
• • •
We were still struggling financially, and the time had come to sell our house. We had found a buyer who wanted to exchange quickly and was anxious to complete, but we still hadn’t found a house to rent and having two dogs didn’t make it any easier.
It was hard, having to leave our home. I loved the garden and the whole feel of the house. I loved sitting in the kitchen in the morning and watching the birds outside. I wondered if we would ever be able to afford to buy a house of our own again.
I wondered if whoever moved in would cut down the trees or the blue butterfly bushes that the bees loved, and whether they would feed the wild birds that we put food out for on cold winter and dry summer days when the ground was hard. It just seemed odd to think of strangers walking around our house and sleeping in our room.
However, leaving our home paled in comparison to my worry about what was happening to Gary.
We managed to rent a place nearby at the last minute and the landlord didn’t mind us having dogs. The house was a bit run-down but the garden was really lovely and there was a pond full of fish that no one knew was there. Tony the landlord had bought the house intending to convert it into flats at some point and hadn’t noticed the fish, which we were happy to look after.
On 25 May I was shocked when Nick Clegg said in an interview on BBC 5 Live that he might not have the power to halt an earlier court decision to allow extradition. This totally contrasted with comments made while in opposition. However, I had to believe that after so much pre-election support for Gary, this government would not let him down.
On 8 June Keith Vaz, who is Lucy’s parents’ MP in Leicester, raised a question about Gary’s case in the House of Commons. A few days later Mr Vaz invited me to return to give evidence on extradition to the cross-party Home Affairs Select Committee for the second time.
Good politicians are seldom given the credit for the good work they do, but there are many first-class MPs out there.
Gary’s Member of Parliament, David Burrowes, met with Home Secretary Theresa May and gave her a letter I had written, and Karen submitted new medical evidence. I was really pleased that David Burrowes had actually spoken to Theresa May, as I knew that David would have made her fully aware of the medical evidence and of the personal and emotional cost and the deterioration of Gary’s mental state. Sending letters and emails you never know if the Home Secretary ever actually gets to see them, or if they’re just answered by one of her team or even just by a general Home Office employee. I’ll be forever grateful that David Burrowes was Gary’s MP, as he fought fearlessly with every ounce of his being for Gary to remain in the UK.
On 11 June I got an email from Damian Green telling me that Theresa May was working to try to find a solution for Gary.
On the same day, Lord Tebbit spoke out in support of Gary in his Telegraph blog. Lord Tebbit’s wife was a nurse who was paralysed in the bombing by the IRA at the Brighton hotel they had been staying in during the Conservative Party conference many years before. Lord Tebbit said that America had refused to extradite alleged IRA terrorists to the UK on the grounds that they would not get a fair trial here.
There was no doubt that Gary’s plight was being taken up by people in high places across the political spectrum and that this in turn highlighted the controversial extradition treaty.
We were incredibly lucky that so many people from all walks of life and political persuasions supported Gary. Whenever I said that we were lucky, people thought I was mad because our circumstances were so dire, but I did feel fortunate that such an eclectic mixture of individuals were brewing a kind of people-powered force for good.
An investigative journalist named Mark Ballard won a British Telecom Journalism Award for a lengthy piece he had written showing exactly what Gary had done – and showing that Alan Johnson had exaggerated Gary’s crime and had publicly accused Gary of things that even the US had not.
I followed this up by emailing the evidence to our great supporters Lord Maginnis and Baroness Browning and to various other peers. I emailed MPs from every political party, with the facts as opposed to the allegations, and appealed for them to help to have Gary tried in the UK.
The trouble is that so many people have no real understanding of computers or of what hacking – as opposed to phishing – really entails.
A judge had already ruled in a London court that companies with poor security having to pay to upgrade their computer equipment to make it secure does not constitute damage, as the equipment would have had to be upgraded in any case.
When you expose misinformation or lies, it allows the truth to shine through. But exposing the truth can be a long and difficult process, especially when so many in the judicial process have scant understanding of computers and, as George Orwell said, ‘In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is an act of rebellion.’
• • •
I woke up and the sun was shining. It was the kind of day that in spite of the constant worry made you feel that anything was possible. On days like this I had no doubt that I could win Gary’s freedom.
Michael Seamark from the Daily Mail came over to take us out for lunch, as he often did. It was always a huge treat for us – a change of scene, good food, diverse conversation – and leaving the computer behind gave us much-needed respite. Michael is easy to talk to and, like us, has an opinion on just about everything.
We went to visit our friends Sue and Kooi later that day and Sue said, ‘Come into the garden, Janis, I’ve found something that I think you’ll like.’
Sue took me to the shed at the bottom of her garden and six tiny kittens emerged from under it. They were so beautiful. The mother cat was a gentle stray who appeared shortly afterwards and was clearly starving, so we fed her and encouraged the kittens to eat a little food, which they were just about old enough to do.
I love animals and knew we’d have to find them all a home but I was worried about how our hound dogs would react to having a cat around.
We took one of the kittens back to our house for a few days until he could be taken to his new home in Leicester, but when we were packing in anticipation of moving house, I let one of our dogs into the same room as the kitten by mistake. Too late I realised what I had done. I ran into the room and was almost afraid to look but was then amazed to see our dog Jackson lying quietly beside the kitten as though to protect it. Lucy took the kitten to her friend’s house in Leicester a few days later, where he still lives happily with his new owner.
We took two more of the kittens home. Gary and Lucy kept the little tabby one and we kept the white one, so we now have a much-loved cat, Pinksy: named because of her pink paws, pink nose and pink ears – and as a shout-out to the wonderful David Gilmour, whose band was Pink Floyd.
Homes were found for all of the kittens, and also for their mother.
On 8 July the European Court of Human Rights halted the extradition of Babar Ahmad, Talha Ahsan and Abu Hamza
, as the ECHR was taking on their cases for review, and this would be likely to take several years to complete.
Unbelievably the ECHR refused to even consider taking on Gary’s case for review, despite his mental health issues and possible sixty-year sentence. I couldn’t understand this. We felt crushed. I was worried about Gary and asked him if he was OK, which was a silly question but I asked it anyway and Gary said:
You know, I’m walking down the road and suddenly I find I can’t control my own legs, and I’m sitting up all night thinking about maniacs wanting to have me dragged and locked up in some godforsaken American prison, where I’d be attacked and raped and disconnected from my home and family, and I think about the cruelty in the world, mostly for monetary gain, and I think … I don’t belong in this world.
I looked at Gary as he looked past me with a faraway gaze and I thought, ‘Neither do I, Gary, neither do I.’
• • •
Despite having stopped fostering children for a time as campaigning for Gary was all-consuming, I was beginning to feel extremely tired – really earth-shatteringly, head-hung-down, not-wanting-to-get-up kind of tired. I was putting it down to the weeks of hot weather and the fact that I was constantly sitting at the computer.
I got up from my chair and looked at myself in the mirror and saw a face I didn’t recognise looking back at me. Who was this tired-looking woman in the mirror? I felt sorry for her. She looked sad and broken. Her hair needed a wash, her clothes were shabby and she looked run into the ground.
I thought I had looked OK for my age not that long ago, but suddenly I realised that was years ago. I had been sitting at this damn computer ever since Gary was arrested! But where had the old Janis gone? The roots of my hair were grey, I had put on weight and I looked awful.
What was wrong with me? I was strong, what was I doing feeling sorry for myself? I was angry at this pathetic person who was me, who should be thinking only about her son and what he was facing rather than giving way to such self-pitying thoughts. What was wrong with me? Can anyone tell me if I’m even a person anymore?
I had become an extension of a computer. I hadn’t sung or written any songs for years, or even touched a musical instrument. I hadn’t bought any nice clothes, or done anything fun or frivolous. I had also become the most boring person ever, as the only thing I wanted to talk about was Gary. I didn’t want to do small talk about meaningless moments or this shop or that shop, or texting or phoning.
I just wanted to see Gary home and dry.
I sat down and cried in a way I hadn’t done in years. ‘God, I need to get myself together, I think I’m cracking up,’ I thought, as I ran my fingers through my hair, knowing I needed to get back on top of things. ‘I need to look after myself.’
I took time to weigh myself the following day, which I hadn’t done in a long time, and was shocked to see that my weight had increased by a massive two stone. I now weighed 11st 6lbs. 11st 6lbs!
Wilson had put on weight too and I knew we were both going to have to lose weight or we might end up becoming ill or having heart attacks and then what would happen to Gary?
We changed to eating low-carb, but not no-carb, and started losing weight without going to a gym or doing any strenuous exercise. We just walked our dogs regularly as we always have … and walking in the woods soothed my soul.
I wanted Gary to walk, run, swim or cycle as he used to, as he desperately needed respite, but he wouldn’t, he couldn’t. He rarely left the house and just hid away from the world.
This was sad and an absolute waste of life as Gary is so talented. He has the most beautiful singing voice and writes really good and unusual songs, but all that had fallen by the wayside because of his naivety and foolishness seemingly being deliberately misinterpreted by overzealous prosecutors hunting down and trying to extradite computer geeks as terrorists, simply because they can.
Wilson had a dream about asking President Obama to help Gary. Obama asked what Gary had done. Wilson couldn’t remember and said, ‘Oh, something silly.’ And the President said, ‘I’ll see what I can do.’
I laughed when Wilson told me. I loved hearing Wilson’s dreams as they always made me feel optimistic for some reason.
Weeks later I discovered that David Cameron was going to America on 19 July to meet with President Obama, so I wrote to MPs asking for this golden opportunity to please be used to raise Gary’s case. However, what followed surpassed any hope or expectation I had.
On 20 July Wilson and I had our coats on and were going out the door and for some unknown reason I turned around and put the TV on. There looking out at us were the Prime Minister and President Obama.
David Cameron looked over at ITN journalist Tom Bradby and said, ‘I think we have a question from Tom Bradby.’
Mr President, Tom Bradby, ITV News. Quite a lot of people in the UK feel that your determination as a country to continue to push for the extradition of computer hacker and Asperger’s sufferer Gary McKinnon is disproportionate and somewhat harsh. Do you think it is time now to consider some leniency in this case?
Wilson and I were sitting on the edge of our seats, transfixed at what was taking place. We almost fell off our chairs and I screamed. I couldn’t believe it and I listened with my heart in my mouth as Tom Bradby continued talking about Gary:
And, Prime Minister, you’ve expressed very strong views on this matter, suggesting that Mr McKinnon shouldn’t be extradited. Your Deputy Prime Minister has expressed even stronger views. Did you discuss that with the President today? And if not, would now be a good moment to share your views with us once again?
David Cameron: Shall I go?
President Obama: Please, go ahead.
David Cameron: It is something that we discussed in our meeting. I mean, clearly there’s a discussion going on between the British and the Americans about this, and I don’t want to prejudice those discussions. We completely understand that Gary McKinnon stands accused of a very important and significant crime in terms of hacking into vital databases. And nobody denies that that is an important crime that has to be considered. But I have had conversations with the US ambassador, as well as raising it today with the President, about this issue, and I hope a way through can be found.
It was as though some kind of magic had happened, a once-in-a-lifetime moment. The President of America and our Prime Minister, during their first ever joint worldwide press conference, were talking about how to help my son.
President Obama: Well, one of the things that David and I discussed was the increasing challenge that we’re going to face as a consequence of the internet, and the need for us to co-operate extensively on issues of cyber-security.
We had a brief discussion about the fact that although there may still be efforts to send in spies and try to obtain state secrets through traditional Cold War methods, the truth of the matter is these days, where we’re going to see enormous vulnerability when it comes to information is going to be through these kind of breaches in our information systems. So we take this very seriously. And I know that the British government does as well.
Beyond that, one of the traditions we have is the President doesn’t get involved in decisions around prosecutions, extradition matters. So what I expect is that my team will follow the law, but they will also co-ordinate closely with what we’ve just stated is an ally that is unparalleled in terms of our co-operative relationship. And I trust that this will get resolved in a way that underscores the seriousness of the issue, but also underscores the fact that we work together and we can find an appropriate solution. All right? Thank you very much, everybody.
This had to be the beginning of the end. Happy tears rolled down my face as I picked up the phone to tell Gary and when he answered I was so shaken that the only words that came out were a scream of ‘David Cameron! President Obama! On TV! All about you! It’s going to be OK!!! You’re going to be OK!!!’
We were laughing and crying and feeling that a miracle had just taken place an
d Tom Bradby was amazing. I mean, here were our Prime Minister and the President of America talking about Iraq, Afghanistan, the global economy and little Gary McKinnon!
In the past, Home Secretaries had refused to extradite General Pinochet to Chile and had refused to extradite terrorists; publicly raising Gary’s case with the US President was something I doubt any other leaders would have done and huge respect to David Cameron for that. It’s something we will never forget and will be eternally grateful to him for.
The phone started ringing and didn’t stop, and another round of non-stop TV interviews took place over the next few days.
The following day in Washington, Tom Bradby interviewed David Cameron:
Tom Bradby: President Obama said yesterday that cybercrime is an enormous threat to America, which it surely is, you know that, I know that. We also know that it’s about government agencies, it’s about the Mafia. It’s not about some lone guy with Asperger’s sitting in a room in north London. That is not what it’s about. So surely, if this great friendship you seem to be developing with Obama means anything it’s got to produce a result on something like this. Hasn’t it? And if it doesn’t you’re going to look very silly.
David Cameron: Well, that’s why we’re having these discussions.
People on Twitter and in the street and in shops were congratulating us, as they all firmly believed that Gary would be OK now. We kept waiting and hoping and expecting an announcement but Parliament went into recess on 27 July and wasn’t due to return until 6 September, so despite David Cameron’s brave stance, it seemed that our wait wasn’t over yet.
I felt as though we were trapped in a maze. Every route I took consisted of twists and turns that led to a dead end and I was desperate to find the exit. We needed to get Gary out.