A man who stole an ambulance while an elderly patient was being transported drove the vehicle for more than 20 minutes before officers brought him to a halt, a court has been told.
Marshall Leese, 32, seized the vehicle from a triage area outside Royal Stoke University Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent on 25 March while a patient was receiving treatment in the back. Prosecutors stated he drove erratically and ran red lights throughout the incident.
Court hears details of the theft
Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that Leese had been suffering from delusions linked to the drug monkey dust. Just moments before stealing the ambulance, he had been removed from the driver's seat of another emergency vehicle by paramedics.
CCTV footage shown to jurors captured Leese making off in the Fiat Ducato ambulance before eventually pulling up at a petrol station in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, where he attempted to conceal himself from officers.
Prosecutor Robert Holt told the court that a paramedic initially believed a colleague had returned to the driver's seat before the vehicle began to move. He then shouted at Leese: "Who the f*** are you? You need to pull over, there are people in the back here."
Patient in danger
Mr Holt added: "The defendant did not reply or make any effort to pull over the vehicle. 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 at the time, was receiving treatment for a head injury in the rear of the ambulance, the court heard. Mr Holt continued: "If the ambulance crashed with him on board, there would have been no chance of survival."
Leese, of Denbigh Street in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, 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 using a motor vehicle without third-party insurance.
Sentencing
The vehicle had been left in "run lock" mode, which keeps the ambulance running while enabling paramedics to remove the keys from the ignition. This is the method by which Leese was able to seize control of the vehicle.
On Tuesday (November 10), Leese was handed a sentence of 21 months' imprisonment, while Jennifer Devans-Tamakloe, defending Leese, stated he had led an "extraordinarily difficult and chaotic lifestyle", adding: "He has been abusing alcohol and drugs for a significant length of time."
A "daily use of monkey dust has a negative impact on his mental state", she explained to the court, causing him to experience delusions and paranoia in the lead-up to the offence. He believed he was "being controlled" and "receiving coded messages" at the time of the incident, which allegedly influenced his decision.
Appearing via video-link from HMP Dovegate near Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, Leese, who has 16 convictions for 22 previous offences, was told by Recorder Ben Williams KC: "You continued to drive the ambulance, by my calculations, for more than 20 minutes.
"You weren't driving at high speeds and you were, it's visible on the footage, exercising a degree of care about other vehicles. But you were driving erratically and going through red lights, therefore putting other people at risk."
The judge further noted that the paramedic on board the ambulance, who was attending to the elderly man and his carer, was primarily focused on the patient but "described himself as being terrified about the whole situation".
