Wikipedia founder wants man's extradition stopped

Richard O'Dywer allegedly earned thousands of pounds through advertising on the TVShack website before it was closed down by US authorities Credit: PA

The founder of Wikipedia is calling on the Home Secretary Theresa May to stop the extradition of a student from the Midlands to the US on copyright charges.

Richard O'Dwyer, who is 24 and from Bolsover near Chesterfield, faces up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted of the charges related to TVShack.net, a website he set up which linked to other sites that streamed pirated television programmes and films.

The extradition was approved by a district judge in January but Mr O'Dwyer has appealed against it. The appeal is due to be heard by the High Court later this year.

On Saturday (June 23), Mr O'Dwyer's mother Julia took part in a protest at Downing Street against the extradition order.