Prison visit from mother for Briton held over Donald Trump gun incident

The mother of a British man accused of trying to grab a policeman's gun in a bid to kill Donald Trump has finally been allowed to visit him in prison.

Michael Sandford, 20, of Dorking, Surrey, allegedly tried to snatch an officer's weapon during a rally at a Las Vegas casino on June 18, later telling officials that his plan was "to shoot and kill Donald Trump".

Until Thursday his mother Lynne Sandford had not been able to visit him in jail.

Speaking before the meeting, she told ITV News London that recent telephone calls with him suggested he was both physically and mentally unwell.

She added: "It's going to be emotional. I don't really know what to expect. I don't know what he will look like. It's not going to be nice going into the courthouse and being separated from him by wire mesh.

"To have travelled all this way and still not allowed that last few centimetres to be able to hug him or anything like that, to wrap my arms around him."

Ms Sandford and her son lost contact when he left their home to travel around America. The next time she saw him, he was on TV being frogmarched out of the Trump rally.

On Thursday she was allowed her first visit to Mr Sandford in Las Vegas.

She told ITV: "We spent the entire visit hand to hand and I could feel the warmth of his hand through the mesh.

"We were allowed a few moments together privately at the end and we just hugged the screen. I was crying.

"I was quite tearful for a lot of it. My teardrops actually went through the screen and he was able to actually feel those which was heart-wrenching.

"He clearly feels very defeated by everything that's happening to him. He just restated that he loves us and misses us and just wants to come home more than anything in the world."

Exclusive: Mother of Michael Sandford describes visiting her son in jail. See our interview.https://t.co/YlrkpczILl pic.twitter.com/r828007Pwa

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Ms Sandford, who travelled to the US with her mother Christine and four-year-old daughter Jessica, said her son had described the incident as a "blur" and could not remember much about it.

"Obviously he wishes it never had happened," she added.

Ms Sandford continued that her son had a number of mental health conditions - including autism, anxiety, depression and anorexia - and she is calling for him be transferred to the UK to serve any jail sentence.

His British lawyer, Saimo Chahal QC said: "Michael has two options. The first is to go for a jury trial, the second is to consider the plea bargain that has been offered to him."

Mr Sandford has been charged with being in the country illegally and disrupting government business. He faces up to 10 years in US prison if found guilty.

His trial starts on October 3.