WannaCry hack hero Marcus Hutchins’ parents say they have no doubt he ‘will be seen as the innocent party’

Des and Janet Hutchins say they have 'full confidence in the United States judicial system'

Marcus Hutchins' parents say they are convinced of his innocence (AP)

The parents of a British computer expert who was arrested in the US on hacking charges weeks after helping to shut down the WannaCry cyber attack that crippled the NHS, have said they "have no doubt” that he “will be seen as an innocent party".

Marcus Hutchins, also known as MalwareTech on social media, was arrested earlier this month in Las Vegas. He denies six charges relating to the Kronos banking Trojan, which is spread through email attachments and used to steal banking passwords from infected computers.

Speaking for the first time, the 23-year-old’s parents, Des and Janet Hutchins said in a joint statement that they had “full confidence in the United States judicial system.”

Mr Hutchins said: "Once all the evidence is available we have no doubt that Marcus will be seen as an innocent party.

"Our family is grateful for everyone's messages of support, and their belief in his values, as he tries to clear his name."

He added: 'We hope people will understand that we can make no further comment at this time. Marcus's case is in the hands of his lawyers.”

His son won global fame in May, after working from a room in the family home in Ilfracombe, Devon, to defeat the WannaCry ransomware attack, which had crippled the NHS and spread to computers in 150 countries.

But he was detained earlier this month by the FBI after a trip to the Def Con hacking conference in Las Vegas, where he reportedly bragged to The Outline about staying in a local real estate mogul's mansion and renting high-end cars.

US authorities claim he created another form of malware called Kronos, and then conspired between July 2014 and July 2015 to advertise and sell it on internet forums.

If convicted, he could face up to 40 years in a US jail.

Earlier this week, Mr Hutchins pleaded "not guilty" during a court hearing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The court gave Mr Hutchins permission to work and use the internet again, but he will not be allowed access to the server he used to stop WannaCry spreading.

He was also told to surrender his passport and will be tracked in the US via GPS during his release.

His trial is scheduled for October.

After the hearing Mr Hutchins took to Twitter, where he said: "There's a lot of people I'd like to thank for amazing support over the past 11 days, which I will do when I get a chance to publish my blog."

He added: "I'm still on trial, still not allowed to go home, still on house arrest; but now i am allowed online. Will get my computers back soon."