A British man jailed in the US for trying to grab a policeman’s gun at a Donald Trump rally – in order “to shoot and kill” the then presidential candidate – has returned to the UK.

Michael Sandford landed at Heathrow airport on Thursday, having been released nearly five months into a year-long sentence, his family’s lawyer said.

The incident took place at a rally in Las Vegas in June last year.

Sandford, then aged 20, approached officers at the event, saying he wanted Trump’s autograph.

But he then made a grab for an officer’s holstered weapon. He later told police he had intended to assassinate Trump.

Sandford, who has autism and suffers from mental health problems, was diagnosed as having had a psychotic episode at the time of the incident.

He was sentenced at a federal court in Las Vegas in December last year to a year in jail after admitting charges of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and disrupting an official function.

He faced up to 20 years in jail had he been found guilty of the offences at a trial. He had initially denied the charges but pleaded guilty following a plea agreement.



Speaking after the sentencing, Sandford’s mother, Lynne, said the family, who are from Dorking in Surrey, were “absolutely delighted” and “over the moon with the sentence”.

She told Good Morning Britain: “The judge was a reasonable and compassionate man and he really took into account the full extent of Michael’s problems.

“And the fact that Michael was only a danger ever to himself – nobody else. We are thrilled to bits for him.”

Asked how her son was feeling following the hearing and about the prospect of being in a US prison, she said: “Obviously it is going to still be a struggle for him each day.

“But just knowing that he has only less than a year to do is going to make a tremendous amount of difference to him. He knows he has got a future ahead of him and it is not too far to go.

“He knows he has got his family to come back to and it just makes all the difference in the world to him.”

Sandford was released after serving less than half of the sentence, despite fears Trump might seek to intervene and either keep him in jail for longer or block his return to the UK.