Norwich airport and hospital cyber-hacker 'His Royal Gingerness' jailed

Daniel Devereux, 30, of no fixed address, admitted two counts of unauthorised access

A hacker who called himself "His Royal Gingerness" has been jailed for attacks against a hospital and an airport.

Daniel Devereux, 30, of no fixed address, admitted two counts of unauthorised access under the Computer Misuse Act.

He hacked into the websites of Norwich airport and the Norfolk and Norwich hospital in 2015. The airport said the breach cost it up to £40,000 to fix.

Devereux was sentenced in Norwich to 32 weeks in prison.

The website of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital was hacked in September 2015

He posted a video online boasting of his criminal activity and sent emails to staff at both organisations under the pseudonym 'His Royal Gingerness'.

He was easily tracked down by IT experts who found clues about his computer's location, both from his video and his attempts to access the websites.

In mitigation his lawyer said Devereux was a so-called "white hat hacker" whose non-malicious motivation was to highlight security vulnerabilities so they could be rectified.

The airport hack in September 2015 affected bookings and arrivals and departure boards.

The airport took its website down for three days and built a new one.

The hospital hack, which took place in November 2015, did not affect clinical procedures. The Norwich and Norfolk hospital took its website offline for 24 hours while it improved its security.

Norwich airport said it had spent between £30,000 and £40,000 improving its online security

Following sentencing, Punam Malhan, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Through his attack on these two websites, Devereux caused inconvenience and financial cost.

"When faced with the weight of evidence against him, he pleaded guilty.

"Hacking is a serious criminal offence and anyone considering such an attack needs to know they are liable to prosecution."