Wikileaks founder Julian Assange walks free after plea deal in US court | BBC News

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has walked free from a US court after pleading guilty in a deal to end a years-long legal battle.

He faces no further prison time and is due to fly home to Australia, following the hearing held in the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory.

Assange was pursued by US prosecutors for leaking a vast amount of secret military information, and had faced a long sentence in a high security prison.

Last week, he signed a deal with the US that would see him plead guilty to one espionage charge instead of the 18 he was originally facing.