The east London man accused of attempting to hack into the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) website was released on unconditional bail yesterday after pleading not guilty.

Daniel James Cuthbert, 28, of Whitechapel, east London, was charged on February 10 with a single offence under Section One of the Computer Misuse Act. He was accused of attempting to gain "unauthorised access" on 31 December to the site of the organization co-ordinating fundraising efforts for victims of the Asian tsunami disaster.

According to DEC, the alleged New Year’s Eve hacking attempt was immediately detected and foiled.

Cuthbert’s plea came the same day DEC announced it had raised £300m for Tsunami victims and would close its appeal from 26 February.

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