A teenage computer hacker who obtained Bill Gates' credit card details and sent him Viagra tablets today escaped a jail sentence.

Raphael Gray, 19, was ordered to carry out a three-year community probation order linked to treatment for a mental disorder after admitting 10 charges of computer fraud.

Gray sparked a £3 million FBI investigation after he posted thousands of credit card details on the Internet from the bedroom of his Welsh home.

Styling himself the "saint of e-commerce", Gray targeted British, Canadian and US companies, including Microsoft billionaire Mr Gates.

Gray carried out his personal "crusade" to show how bad Internet security was, Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard.

Police on both sides of the Atlantic took a month to track down Gray to his home in Clynderwen, Dyfed, where he was arrested by FBI agents in March last year.

Afterwards, a relieved Gray admitted he had prepared himself for a prison sentence.

He said he didn't regret exposing Internet security flaws - only the way he'd gone about it.

He said: "I would do it all again but another time I would choose to ensure that I acted legally."