A 33-year-old man is facing up to five years in jail in the US for allegedly hacking his wife's e-mails, after he suspected her of cheating on him, a media report said.

Leon Walker has been charged by prosecutors in Oakland County, Michigan, under the state's anti-hacking laws aimed at preventing identity theft in the US, for allegedly reading her wife Clara's e-mails without her prior permission, 'The Daily Telegraph' online reported.

Leon had suspected that his wife, who had been married twice before, was having an affair with her former husband.

He is alleged to have used his computer skills to gain access to her e-mail account on their shared home computer and discovered a series of e-mails which confirmed his suspicions that his wife was cheating on him, the report said.

Subsequently, Leon handed the e-mails over to the son of Clara's first husband who was forced into revealing the source of the leaked e-mails. When his wife realised her e-mails were read, she lodged a complaint with authorities.

Clara later split up from Leon and the couple were divorced earlier this month, when he was arrested for hacking.

Prosecutor Jessica Cooper has dismissed Leon's claims he had used his wife's password to log on to the computer. She said Leon was nothing but a "hacker" who used his skills as a computer technician to gain access to his wife's e-mails.

"It was password protected, he had wonderful skills, and was highly trained. Then he downloaded them and used them in a very contentious way," Cooper was quoted as saying.

Walker, who works as an IT technician for Oakland County, denies hacking into his wife's account. He is due to go on trial in February and could face a maximum of five years in jail if convicted.