British man who tried to shoot Donald Trump pleads guilty to charges

US: A 20-year-old British boy, Michael Steven Sandford who attempted to grab a police officer’s gun to shoot US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on June 18 has pleaded guilty to charges that could get him about two years prison sentence in the US and then deported.


Sandford was arrested in June after trying to grab a police officer's gun in a 1500-seat venue at Treasure Island hotel-casino but he didn’t get the gun as no shots were fired.

Sandford entered the pleas to being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and disrupting an official function.

“I tried to take a gun from a policeman to shoot someone with, and I’m pleading guilty,” Sandford told the judge.

Sandford could have faced up to 20 years in a US prison if he had been convicted at trial of both charges.

Sanford's mother Lynne Sandford, and a family lawyer Saimo Chahal arrived from London and met with him in custody last week before he entered his pleas.

Chahal said a psychiatrist she engaged to review the case determined that Sandford was delusional at the time of the attempted attack.
Chahal also said Sandford suffers seizures, obsession-compulsion, anxiety and autism spectrum disorders.

Before the plea in US District Court in Las Vegas, the lawyer said in an email;

“Michael was not in control at the time of the events and needs help,’‘

“He is desperate to return to the UK to be near his family as he has no ties with the USA.”

Court documents also said that Sandford acknowledged asking the police officer at the event if he could get an autograph from Trump before reaching with both hands for the officer’s 9mm handgun.

According to court documents, Sandford later confessed to a federal agent that he drove to Las Vegas from California with a plan to kill Trump, and that the day before his arrest, he rented a 9mm pistol and fired 20 shots at a paper target at a Las Vegas gun range.

The court documents also state that Sandford said he expected he would be killed during the assassination attempt, but that if he wasn’t, he would make another attempt on Trump’s life at a rally in Phoenix..

The document said that as a result of Sandford's plea, “It is almost certain that he will be permanently removed ... and will not be able to return to the United States at any time in the future.’‘