In this June 18, 2016, photo, police remove Michael Steven Sandford as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Treasure Island hotel and casino in Las Vegas. Sandford, a British man... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this June 18, 2016, photo, police remove Michael Steven Sandford as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Treasure Island hotel and casino in Las Vegas. Sandford, a British man accused of trying to take a police officer's gun and kill Donald Trump during a weekend rally in... (Associated Press) 
 
 LAS VEGAS (AP) — A British man accused of telling authorities that he wanted to kill Donald Trump at a rally was unemployed, living out of his car and had been treated in the past for obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia, authorities and others say. 
 
 Court statements and accounts Tuesday from a family friend in England offered a complex picture of 20-year-old suspect Michael Steven Sandford, who was arrested Saturday in a Las Vegas casino where the Republican candidate was speaking. 
 
 People who knew Sandford told The Associated Press he was intelligent and said signs of his Asperger's syndrome became more obvious as he got older. 
 
 "I just didn't imagine that he would do what he was doing," said Julie Debnam, 59, whose son attended primary school with Sandford and often spent time with him. "I still think he has a lot of low esteem. He needs help rather than going to prison, basically." 
 
 A woman who answered the door at an address listed for Sandford's father, in a working class section of Havant, England, declined to give her name and told journalists to go back to their own country. 
 
 The British newspaper Portsmouth News said Sandford's father, Paul Davey, described his son as polite and peaceful and called the arrest an "absolute shock." 
 
 "Whether he's been blackmailed or put up to it, that's the only thing me and his mum can think of," Davey said, according to the newspaper. "It's so against his nature and obviously with his Asperger's, we think somebody has got hold of him and done something." 
 
 U.S. Secret Service agents say Sandford approached an officer at the Trump campaign stop last weekend to say he wanted Trump's autograph then tried to take the officer's gun. 
 
 In an interview, Sandford told agents that he wanted to shoot Trump and was prepared to die at the hands of police in the assassination attempt, according to the criminal complaint. 
 
 Sandford was charged with an act of violence on restricted grounds and was assigned a court-appointed attorney. 
 
 He has not yet entered a plea and was denied bail after a judge said he was a flight risk and posed a threat to the community. 
 
 "There may be some issues regarding the mental health of the defendant," U.S. Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. said during a court hearing Monday, while the thin, shackled Sandford appeared to tremble in his seat nearby. 
 
 Sandford has not recently been diagnosed with mental illness but had been treated for anorexia and obsessive compulsive disorder when he was younger, according to background information that court officials gathered and discussed in court. 
 
 Public defender Heather Fraley said Sandford previously attempted suicide and once ran away from a hospital in England. Still, she believes he's competent to stand trial. 
 
 Court research shows Sandford didn't have a job and received financial support from his mother after coming to the U.S. last year. 
 
 Davey told the Portsmouth News that his son had moved to New Jersey a year and a half ago to be with a girlfriend. 
 
 Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement say he stayed about nine months longer than he was allowed through the Visa Waiver program, and they've lodged a detainer against him so they can take action on the immigration violation before he's released. 
 
 Sandford told Secret Service agents that he drove his 2007 BMW from the San Bernardino, California, area to Las Vegas on June 16. The next day, he went to a shooting range and fired 20 rounds from a 9mm Glock pistol to learn how to use it, according to the complaint. 
 
 Sandford said he had been planning to kill Trump for about a year but finally felt confident about trying it, the complaint states. 
 
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 AP writers Frank Jordans and David Keyton contributed from Dorking, England. 
 
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 This story has been corrected to show the suspect's last name is Sandford, not Sanford. ||||| Twenty-year-old jailed for 12 months by Las Vegas court for trying to grab police officer’s gun at Trump rally 
 
 A 20-year-old Briton has been jailed for 12 months by a Las Vegas court for trying to grab a police officer’s gun at a Donald Trump rally in June. 
 
 Michael Steven Sandford, who has autism, tried to get the weapon at a Las Vegas casino where Trump was addressing supporters during the presidential campaign. 
 
 He allegedly told officers after his arrest that he planned to shoot Trump. 
 
 'They said my son intended to assassinate Donald Trump. And my world just stopped' Read more 
 
 Sandford, of Dorking, Surrey, pleaded guilty in September to charges of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and disrupting an official function. 
 
 He could have faced up to 20 years in prison if he had been convicted at trial of both charges. 
 
 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.�? 
 
 A tearful Sandford told the court: “I know saying sorry is not enough. I really do feel awful about what I did. I wish there was some way to make things better. I have cost taxpayers so much money. I feel terrible.�? 
 
 Addressing the judge, he added: “I’m really sorry to you and the court for taking up so much time.�? 
 
 As he has already been in custody since being arrested, he is not expected to have to spend a further 12 months behind bars. 
 
 
 
 Sandford did not get hold of the gun before he was arrested, and no shots were fired. 
 
 
 
 Court documents say that Sandford told a federal agent that he drove from California to Las Vegas with a plan to kill Trump. 
 
 His UK lawyer, Saimo Chahal, QC, of Bindmans, had argued that Sandford was delusional at the time. 
 
 The court papers also stated that Sandford had gone to a gun range in Las Vegas to learn how to fire a gun, which he had not done before. 
 
 Sandford told police he had been in the US for 18 months before the incident. He was unemployed, living out of his car and in the US illegally. 
 
 As well as autism, he also has obsessive compulsive disorder, severe depression, seizures, cardiac issues and Crohn’s disease, according to his family. 
 
 
 
 His mother Lynne Sandford, who travelled to the US for the sentencing with her mother Christine and four-year-old daughter Jessica, had appealed to the judge to allow her son to serve his sentence in the UK so he could get the right psychiatric help. 
 
 
 
 The family has launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover the legal costs relating to their bid to bring Sandford back to the UK to serve his sentence. 
 
 
 
 “Michael’s actions were completely out of character. He is an extremely vulnerable young man and we believe that he needs to return to the UK in order to serve his sentence,�? his mother wrote. 
 
 
 
 Until sentencing, Lynne Sandford had only seen her son once since he was arrested. 
 
 
 
 “During my visit to Las Vegas, I learned that Michael had been on suicide watch several times following numerous mental breakdowns,�? she wrote. “‘Suicide watch’ in the US involves being kept in isolation 24/7 for up to a week at a time. Other prisoners are allowed books, but these are taken away from Michael while he is in isolation. Michael isn’t even allowed toilet paper while he is in isolation.�?
– A British man accused of telling authorities he wanted to kill Donald Trump was unemployed, living out of his car, and had been treated in the past for OCD and anorexia, authorities say. People who knew 20-year-old Michael Sandford, arrested at a Las Vegas rally on Saturday, tell the AP he was intelligent and that signs of his Asperger's syndrome became more obvious as he got older. Sandford's father describes his son—who apparently outstayed his visa after moving to New Jersey to be with a girlfriend—as polite and peaceful and calls the arrest an "absolute shock." "Whether he's been blackmailed or put up to it, that's the only thing me and his mum can think of," he tells the Portsmouth News. "It's so against his nature and obviously with his Asperger's, we think somebody has got hold of him and done something." US Secret Service agents say Sandford approached an officer at the Trump campaign stop to say he wanted Trump's autograph, then tried to take the officer's gun. In an interview, Sandford told agents he wanted to shoot Trump and was prepared to die at the hands of police in the assassination attempt, according to the criminal complaint. Sandford was charged with an act of violence on restricted grounds and was assigned a court-appointed attorney. He has not yet entered a plea and was denied bail after a judge said he was a flight risk and posed a threat to the community. "There may be some issues regarding the mental health of the defendant," the judge said during a court hearing Monday, while Sandford appeared to tremble in his seat. A public defender said Sandford previously attempted suicide and once ran away from a hospital in England. Still, she believes he's competent to stand trial.