Lauri Love

Early life and education Love is from Stradishall, Suffolk. His parents, Alexander Love, a prison chaplain at HM Prison Highpoint North, and Sirkka-Liisa Love (a Finnish citizen), who also works at the prison, live in Stradishall. He has dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and Finland.

After dropping out of sixth form college and working in a turkey plant, Love applied for a Finnish passport, and then served in the Finnish Army for six months, became a conscientious objector and finished another six months of his obligation in alternative civilian service. He was part of the 2011 Hetherington House Occupation, a student protest at Glasgow University.

United States indictment In January 2013, the website of the United States Sentencing Commission was replaced with a video protesting the treatment of activist Aaron Swartz who had committed suicide days earlier. The video claimed that those responsible had obtained secrets from the United States Army, Missile Defense Agency, and NASA but they were only ever released in encrypted form. The subsequent investigation named Lauri Love in two indictments (2013 in District of New Jersey, 2014 in Southern District of New York and Eastern District of Virginia) for allegedly "breaching thousands of computer systems in the United States and elsewhere – including the computer networks of federal agencies – to steal massive quantities of confidential data". The United States made an extradition request.

Love's attorney in America was Tor Ekeland.

National Crime Agency arrest The National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested Love in October 2013.

In May 2016, Judge Nina Tempia of the Westminster Magistrates' Court ruled that Love did not have to tell the NCA what his passwords, or encryption keys, are.

Extradition hearing During Love's two day extradition hearing on 28 and 29 June 2016 at the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, his father testified that Lauri Love is autistic and so should not be extradited. He was supported by the Courage Foundation. Love's barrister for this extradition hearing was Ben Cooper of Doughty Street Chambers. The case was adjourned.

On 16 September 2016, at Westminster Magistrates' Court, a judge ruled that Love could be extradited to the United States. Love's solicitor Karen Todner said that they would appeal, and on 5 February 2018, Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and Mr Justice Ouseley, at the High Court, upheld his appeal against extradition because his extradition would be "oppressive by reason of his physical and mental condition".

Popular culture In January 2018, it was announced that novelist Frederick Forsyth would publish a novel inspired by the Lauri Love and Gary McKinnon stories. The novel, The Fox, was released in Autumn 2018.

Personal life As of the late 2010s, Love was in a long-term relationship with fashion model Sylvia Mann.