Hanley man admits false imprisonment after taking ambulance with patient inside
Marshall Leese, 32, has been remanded into custody
Last updated 28th Jul 2026
A man has admitted false imprisonment and aggravated vehicle taking after an ambulance was taken from Royal Stoke University Hospital with a patient still inside.
Staffordshire Police said they were called out to the hospital at around 8.15pm on Wednesday 25 March following reports of a man driving off in an ambulance.
A paramedic, a patient and another person were in the back at the time.
Officers tracked the ambulance until it stopped at an Esso petrol station on the A34, at the junction of Liverpool Road and London Road in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
A police dog found the suspect in nearby marshland.
No one from inside the ambulance was injured, and a second ambulance was sent for the patient.
Appearing at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on Tuesday 28 July, Marshall Leese, 32, from Hanley, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and the aggravated vehicle taking of a Fiat Ducato ambulance and driving it dangerously between the hospital and London Road.
Leese, who wore a grey Nike tracksuit, smiled and waved at a woman in the public gallery at the start of the hearing.
He also pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen for analysis at Wolverhampton New Cross Hospital and using a motor vehicle without third party insurance on March 25.
Judge Sally Hancox, who said the case was “unusual”, adjourned sentencing to a date to be fixed.
She told Leese, who spoke only to confirm his name and enter his pleas during the hearing: “Thank you for coming to court this morning.
“I will now formally adjourn this case for sentence.
“You are remanded into custody.”