WWII code-breaker Alan Turing has been given a posthumous royal pardon for a 61-year-old conviction for being gay. Dr Turing, who was pivotal in breaking the Enigma code, was chemically castrated following his conviction in 1952.
News of the royal pardon granted posthumously to Alan Turing has been applauded as a "just reward" for the code-breaker.
Iain Stewart, Conservative MP for Milton Keynes South, who was involved in the campaign to secure a royal pardon, said: "Alan Turing was an incredibly important figure in our history. He was the father of computer science and the originator of the dominant technology of the late 20th century."
Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said that the granting of the royal pardon was "long overdue" and called for the same treatment to be given to others convicted in similar circumstances.
He said: "Singling out Turing just because he is famous is wrong. Unlike Alan, many thousands of ordinary gay and bisexual men who were convicted under the same law have never been offered a pardon and will never get one.
"An apology and pardon is due to another 50,000-plus men who were also convicted of consenting, victimless homosexual relationships during the 20th century."
WWII codebreaker whose work may have shortened the war by two years was persecuted for being gay but pardoned after a long campaign.
During WW2, Alan Turing worked at the Government Code and Cypher School where he devised techniques which cracked the German Enigma code.