A COMPUTER hacker who targeted Oxford University computers based at the John Radcliffe Hospital from his mother’s front room was jailed for 18 months yesterday.

Matthew Anderson, 33, was a key member of an international gang who abused his skills as a computer security expert to target businesses and individuals with spam containing hidden viruses.

Anderson, of Keith, Banffshire, Scotland, targeted national and international organisations, including Macmillan Publishers, car firm Toyota and the university computers at Oxford’s John Radcliffe, in what prosecutor Hugh Davies described yesterday as a “fundamental breach of security”.

Last night Oxford University confirmed one of its computer networks, in offices based at the hospital, had been targeted.

But university spokesman Jonathan Wood stressed: “We do not have any information to suggest that any patient data or other sensitive information was involved.

“The computer’s hard disc was removed and handed to the police for forensic examination.”

Other files saved on Anderson’s computer included webcam images of a girl in school uniform, a family photograph of a mother and her newborn baby in hospital and intimate pictures of a sexual nature.

Anderson, who admitted an offence under the Computer Misuse Act, appeared at Southwark Crown Court in central London.