LONDON – A Briton accused of perpetrating the “biggest military hack of all time” using a “tuppenny-ha’penny” home computer should be extradited to America to stand trial, a district judge ruled yesterday.

Gary McKinnon, 40, from Wood Green, north London, could face up to 70 years in prison for allegedly accessing 97 American government computers.

He is alleged to have deleted files and logs from computers at the U.S. Naval Weapons Station Earle at a critical time after the September 11, 2001, attacks, rendering the base’s network of 300 computers inoperable.

He is also accused of obtaining secret passwords or information which might become “indirectly useful to an enemy,” and interfering with maritime navigation facilities in New Jersey.

In recommending Mr. McKinnon for extradition yesterday, District Judge Nicholas Evans rejected claims that he could be subject to “Military Order Number One,” which allows President Bush to detain suspects indefinitely. However, the final decision on whether Mr. McKinnon should be sent to America for trial rests with Britain’s Home Secretary, John Reid.

Mr. McKinnon has admitted breaking into the American systems using a computer belonging to his girlfriend’s aunt, but said he was seeking evidence of UFOs in classified files and denies causing damage. As a pacifist, he also wanted to expose weaknesses in the American security systems.

His attorney, Karen Todner, said she was worried that any sentence her client received in America would be “disproportionate” to the scale of the offences he committed.