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Cuckold computer tech faces ID theft charges over Gmail 'hack'

Soap opera

A husband accused of hacking into his wife's webmail account in order to discover evidence of an affair has been charged with identity theft.

Leon Walker, 33, from Rochester Hills, Michigan, suspected his wife Clara was having an affair with her former husband. Consumed with jealousy after his wife failed to return home one night, Leon broke into the Gmail account of his spouse from a shared family computer to uncover a series of emails confirming his wife's betrayal, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Three-times married Clara had a son by her first husband and left her second spouse after he was arrested for beating her in front of the child. Leon Walker handed over the emails to Clara's first husband who used them as part of a custody battle for his son.

This unnamed man was obliged to disclose how he obtained this emails, provoking a counter-lawsuit by Clara over privacy violation and a divorce petition against Leon Walker, a computer technician by trade. Clara and Walker had a daughter together a year ago, a factor that further complicates an already fraught family situation.

Walker was initially arrested and questioned for offences against Michigan's anti-hacking laws before prosecutors decided to charge him with using his wife's password to log into the computer, a form of alleged identity theft. Walker denies the charges.

The outcome of the case (scheduled for trial in February) is destined to be carefully watched by the US's sizeable posse of divorce lawyers. Hi-tech evidence from text messages and social network sites often plays a part in such proceedings just as written letters used to play a significant role in the past. ®

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