Briton Michael Sandford jailed for trying to grab gun at Trump rally

A British man has been jailed for 12 months and a day for trying to grab a policeman's gun in an alleged attempt to kill Donald Trump.

Michael Sandford, who has autism, moved to snatch the weapon at a rally in a casino where the Republican candidate was addressing supporters during the presidential campaign.

After he was arrested in Las Vegas in June, he allegedly told officers he had planned to shoot the billionaire businessman, who went on to win last month's election against Hillary Clinton.

Sandford, of Dorking, Surrey, was sentenced at a federal court in the Nevada resort city.

The judge told him he had a medical problem, was "not evil" and did not want to kill anybody, describing the incident as a "crazy stunt".

In September, the 20-year-old man admitted charges of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and disrupting an official function, despite initially denying them.

Sandford's lawyers said he suffers a number of mental health problems and was diagnosed as having had a psychotic episode at the time of the 18 June incident.

Judge James Mahan told him: "You have a medical problem. You should not be ashamed or embarrassed about it. You need medication.

"You're not a hardened criminal. You're not evil or a sociopath like a lot of people we have.

"I don't think you wanted to kill anybody. This was just some crazy stunt that your mind told you to do."

If he had not pleaded guilty and the case then went to trial he could have faced up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

Prosecutors had asked for an 18-month jail term.

Having been detained since June, he will serve around four months in prison before he is deported back to the UK.

His mother Lynne Sandford had appealed to the judge to allow her son to serve his sentence in Britain so he can receive the correct psychiatric help.

She said he "means everything to me".

"He made a very bad mistake, a huge error of judgment. It breaks my heart to see him in this environment.

"So many people back in England know this is not Michael. Everyone knows he's a good person at heart.

"He needs to get psychiatric help back at home. He's very remorseful for what he did."