Man jailed for stealing an ambulance with a patient inside at Royal Stoke

A man who drove off in an ambulance with an elderly patient being treated in the back has been jailed for 21 months.

Marshall Leese, 32, took the emergency vehicle from a triage bay outside Royal Stoke University Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent on the evening of 25th March, Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard.

The court was told he drove it erratically for more than 20 minutes, including through red lights.

He was sentenced on Tuesday.

Leese, of Denbigh Street in Hanley, had been ushered out of the driver's seat of a different ambulance by paramedics moments before he got into the second one, the court heard.

The second ambulance was a Fiat Ducato.

It could be driven away because it had been left on "run lock" mode, which keeps the vehicle running but allows paramedics to remove the keys from the ignition.

Footage played in court showed Leese getting into the ambulance and driving away.

The court heard the paramedic in the back believed his colleague, who had the keys, had got back into the driver's seat.

When the vehicle started moving, he shouted at Leese to pull over because there were people in the back.

Prosecutor Robert Holt told the court: "The defendant did not reply or make any effort to pull over the vehicle."

He added: "The speed being driven at was not significant but he was going through red lights."

A man in his 80s who was on blood thinners was being treated for a head injury in the back.

Mr Holt said: "If the ambulance crashed with him on board there would have been no chance of survival."

Leese stopped the ambulance at a petrol station in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, where he tried to hide from police, according to the footage shown in court.

Leese pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and aggravated vehicle taking.

He also pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen for analysis at Wolverhampton New Cross Hospital, and to using a motor vehicle without third party insurance.

The court heard he has 16 convictions for 22 previous offences, including a vehicle theft in 2009.

Jennifer Devans-Tamakloe, defending, told the court that Leese led an extremely difficult and chaotic lifestyle and had been abusing alcohol and drugs for a significant length of time.

She said his daily use of a drug called monkey dust had a negative impact on his mental state, and caused delusions and paranoia leading up to the offence.

The court heard Leese thought he was being controlled and receiving coded messages which guided him to take the ambulance.

He appeared in court by video-link from HMP Dovegate near Uttoxeter in Staffordshire.

Recorder Ben Williams KC told Leese: "You continued to drive the ambulance, by my calculations, for more than 20 minutes."

He also said: "You weren't driving at high speeds and you were, it's visible on the footage, exercising a degree of care about other vehicles."

He added: "But you were driving erratically and going through red lights, therefore putting other people at risk."

The judge said the paramedic in the ambulance was with the elderly man and his carer, and was mainly concerned about the patient.

He said the paramedic described himself as being terrified about the whole situation.

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