Third UK Lulzsec hacker pleads guilty to cyber attacks on NHS and Sony

Ryan Ackroyd from South Yorkshire will not face trial on DDoS charges

A third UK member of hacktivist group LulzSec has pleaded guilty to charges relating to cyber attacks as part of the group that launched assaults on the NHS, the CIA, Sony Pictures Europe, News International and the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

Ryan Ackroyd, 26, from South Yorkshire pleaded guilty to one count of computer hacking, contrary to the Criminal Law Act 1977, but will not face trial on a separate account of launching any distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS), the BBC reported.

Ackroyd admitted to being involved in the planning process of hacking several websites, including 20th Century Fox and Arizona state police in the US in 2011, the Guardian reported.

At Southwark crown court on Tuesday, it was revealed that Ackroyd had been given the pseudonym ‘Kayla', a 16-year-old girl.

Prosecuter Sandip Patel told the court: "He was the hacker, so to speak; they turned to him for his expertise as a hacker".

Mustafa Al-Bassam, 18, from Peckham, South London, and Jake David, 20, from Lerwick Shetland had pleaded guilty to the hacking and cyber attacks in 2012.

The trio will be sentenced on 14 May along with Ryan Clearly, 21, from Essex, who had earlier pleaded guilty to six connected charges. They were arrested after the founder of the group, Sabu - real name Hector Xavier Monseur - worked with the FBI after being arrested in March 2011.

US Department of Justice papers seen by Arstechnica revealed that sentencing for Monseur has been postponed until 23 August 2013 "in light of the defendant's ongoing co-operation with the government".

Lulzsec is a spin-off group from hacktivist group Anonymous.