I would do it all again but another time I would choose to ensure that I acted legally

Hacker Raphael Gray

But Judge Gareth Davies said that many people had suffered as a result of his actions.

"You caused great expense and inconvenience - running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

"It is fortunate no-one took advantage of the information you put on the net.

"Your motivation was also to boost your self esteem and maybe you were being naive rather than malicious."

The crimes could have cost �3m

He made an order that Gray should undergo three years of psychiatric treatment after hearing evidence that he was suffering from a mental condition which needed medical treatment rather than incarceration.

Smiling after the trial, Gray, said he did not regret what he had done, but the way he had done it.

He claimed the scam was to expose security weaknesses in internet shopping.

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

I would have liked to see him go to prison. We need to give a very strong message to those people thinking about doing these sort of hacking offences

Neil Barrett Information Risk Management

But an internet security firm that provided expert testimony for the prosecution criticised the sentence, saying it was not tough enough to deter other hackers from committing crimes.

"The crime is tantamount to stealing lots and lots of credit cards out of people's pockets," said Neil Barrett, technical director of Information Risk Management.

"Frankly, I would have liked to see him go to prison. We need to give a very strong message to those people thinking about doing these sort of hacking offences."

Lengthy investigation

Gray from Clynderwen, Pembrokeshire, admitted gaining unauthorised entry to computer systems around the world as part of a multi-million pound credit card mission.

The teenager was sentenced to a three-year community rehabilitation order with psychiatric care.

His activities brought FBI agents and Canadian Mounties to the tiny west Wales village to make an arrest after a lengthy investigation.

Using an �800 computer he bought from Dixons, Gray hacked in to the ordering functions of top international retail sites in the UK, US, Canada and Thailand over six weeks between January and February 1999.

The self-styled "Saint of e-commerce" set about publishing details of 6,500 cards on two of his own websites - where he used the information as an example of weak security in the growing number of consumer websites.

The FBI estimated the scam could cost the credit card industry $3m

Working with an unnamed accomplice who was later eliminated from inquiries, he wrote on one site: "Maybe one day people will set up their sites properly before they start trading because otherwise this won't be the last page I post to the net."

The teenager included on his sites details of his infamous database cracks in a "hall of shame," boasting law enforcers would never find him "because they never catch anyone. The police can't hack their way out of a paper bag."

The computer studies student was at the keyboard when the FBI agents and officers from Dyfed Powys Police turned up at the door of his home, which he shared with his mother and two sisters, last March.

During their investigations, the FBI said closing the hacked accounts and re-issuing new cards could cost the credit card industry $3m.