The mother of a British man accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump says she fears her son might kill himself if he is jailed in the US.

Michael Sandford, 20, from Dorking, Surrey, was arrested at a rally in a Las Vegas casino after going for a police officer's gun as he asked for the presidential hopeful's autograph on June 18.

Sandford, who was in America without permission, later told police he wanted to kill the presumptive Republican nominee, according to the Secret Service.

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The mother of Briton Michael Sandford, 20, who is accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump says she fears her son might kill himself if he's jailed in the US. He is pictured being detained at a rally in Las Vegas

Worried: Lynne Sandford (pictured) said: 'I have been told through reading the Press he faces 30 years in prison and ridiculous amounts of fines and there is no way he would be able to cope with that'

His mother, Lynne Sandford, said the son she knew was 'sweet, sensitive and calm' and the charges were not 'the actions of the same person'.

'I was horrified, obviously. It's very scary. This is not the Michael I know. I just can't get my head around it to be honest,' she told the Victoria Derbyshire programme.

'I have been told through reading the Press he faces 30 years in prison and ridiculous amounts of fines and there is no way he would be able to cope with that.'

She told the programme that Sandford had never spoken to her about politics.

'As I have said he is a very gentle, very calm, person by nature and he would see there was no point,' Ms Sandford said.

'Why would he live the next 30 years in these situations? So yes, I think he would attempt to commit suicide again.'

She added: 'I would like him to be deported so he can be back in the country and can get psychiatric help and that way he could see the family that still adore him.

'Jail is no place for him, he needs help. But not prison.'

She said her son had been diagnosed with Asperger's when he was 13 and had to be sectioned as a teenager after suffering from anorexia and coming close to dying. She added that he had previously attempted to end his own life.

Ms Sandford told the Victoria Derbyshire programme (pictured) her son had never spoken to her about politics

She said her son had been diagnosed with Asperger's when he was 13 and had to be sectioned as a teenager after suffering from anorexia. Ms Sandford added that he had previously attempted to end his own life

Ms Sandford said her son was being held in isolation for 22 hours a day in a medium-secure facility with 1,100 other people. He is pictured as a teenager with X-Terminator - a Robot Wars machine he bought with his father

Ms Sandford said her son had been visited in the US following his arrest by his father who spoke with him via video link.

She said Sandford's father had told her their son had appeared 'bewildered and disorientated' and that he 'didn't seem to know what was going on around him or what the consequences were going to be'.

Ms Sandford said the 20-year-old was being held in isolation for 22 hours a day in a medium-secure facility with 1,100 other people.

Last month, US Attorney Daniel Bogden said a grand jury had charged him with disrupting an official function and two firearms counts.

Sandford told investigators he expected to die in the attempt, which he had been planning for a year, the Las Vegas court heard.

He arrived in the city on June 17, when he went to a local shooting range where he reportedly learned how to use a gun for the first time.