The four men charged with taking part in cyber attacks under hacking group LulzSec, an offshoot of Anonymous, appeared in court Friday afternoon, appearing side-by-side for first time before a judge. British prosecutors allege that the quartet last engaged with one another under the guises of online pseudonyms to wreak havoc on the web.
The four men, Ryan Ackroyd, 25, Ryan Cleary, 20, Jake Davis, 19 and a 17-year-old male who could not be named, were originally due to offer pleas in connection to an eight-count indictment; the pleas however were delayed until June 25. Prosecutor Hugh Davies cited the complexities of the case and added that one of the defendants was about to sit his exams. When Judge Alistair McCreath made a quip about studying computer science, the young defendant, sitting in the dock between Jake Davis and Cleary, offered a small smile. Ackroyd sat behind them, his arms folded.
