We’ve all sat down at the computer and done something stupid. Maybe looked at the wrong website, spent a bit too much on DVD box sets or perhaps even hacked into the Pentagon’s computers. But only one of these will get you up to 60 years in a super maximum security Federal prison.

That’s what Gary McKinnon faces. McKinnon is the Asperger’s sufferer who managed to breach the security of the US military and NASA computer systems from his flat in 2001, which in America’s eyes make him some kind of evil genius who could reduce the Home of the Brave to rubble. Bad Gary. Naughty Gary.

OK, so it sounds like Mercury Rising, the Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin movie which also features an autistic boy cracking a secret code. I suppose you could say that Gary would be getting of lightly, given the way Baldwin sends a hit man to eliminate the boy in that scenario. But still... 60 years? In jail? Hmmm.

A High Court judge in London has said that maybe Gary shouldn’t be sent to America as 60 years in jail could have a serious effect on his mental health, and that Home Secretary Alan Johnson must consider refusing extradition.  Essentially, lawyers and doctors have made it clear that Gary would be a serious suicide risk if he crosses the Atlantic and faces the US justice system.

Now America is not so keen on this. Let’s face it, Gary could really have done some damage if he wanted to, or if he was even sure what he was doing. But wait a minute, along with America, we’re the good guys, aren’t we? Can’t we just have a word with our pals in the White House and come to some other arrangement.

You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But the “special relationship” seems to be a bit of a one way thing these days. It’s just common sense to see that Gary McKinnon is not a huge threat to US security. It’s not like he had a pilot’s licence or carries high explosives around in his pants. If anything, he exposed flaws in America’s internet security at the highest level, which they should really be thanking him for. Maybe even offer him a job so that he can help stop others with more malicious motives getting access to the systems that control the heating in underground nuclear bunkers.

America really doesn’t like getting caught with its pants down. Gary helped pull their drawers down in front of the world and that’s what is really getting to them. So they’ll use everything they can to haul him up before a US court and make sure he pays.

We should not be standing by and letting this happen. Gary McKinnon, without wishing to be unkind, doesn’t see or interact with the rest of the world like the rest of us. Britain has to make this clear to America, and not just roll over and take one for the team.

Alastair Campbell admitted that’s essentially how it works to the Chilcott Inquiry into Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction earlier this week. Long before anyone had come up with the idea that making up claims about nuclear weapons would be a good wheeze to justify invading Iraq, Tony Blair had laid out his warmongering credentials in a letter to George Bush.

“Don’t worry, George, we’ll be there, no matter what...”

So thousands of British service men and women got sent to change the regime in Iraq, because America wanted to. Thousands of lives were put at risk, and so far 247 of those lives have been lost. Let’s not make Gary McKinnon another statistic to add to this grim total.

David Coyle was the winner of stv.tv's "The Write Factor" Competition. His views do not  necessarily represent those of STV plc