A jury in Tennessee has convicted a former student of hacking the e-mail account of Sarah Palin.

David Kernell, 22, was found guilty of obstructing justice and unauthorised access to a computer.

The son of a Democratic lawmaker, he faces up to 20 years in prison for the first charge and one year for the charge of hacking.

He broke into Mrs Palin’s e-mail account during her 2008 Republican campaign for the US vice-presidency.

Kernell was cleared of a charge of wire fraud.