A man who hijacked an ambulance from a hospital triage bay with an elderly patient receiving treatment in the back has been jailed for 21 months.
Marshall Leese, 32, stole the Fiat Ducato ambulance from outside Royal Stoke University Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent on the evening of March 25 and drove it "erratically" for more than 20 minutes, including going through red lights.
Leese, who experienced delusions caused by a drug called monkey dust, had been "ushered out" of the driver's seat of a different ambulance by paramedics moments before he drove off in the second one.
Paramedic's plea to pull over
Footage played at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court showed Leese getting into the ambulance and driving away, before he tried to hide from police when he stopped at a petrol station in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Prosecutor Robert Holt said the paramedic thought his colleague, who had the keys to the vehicle, had got back into the driver's seat before the vehicle started moving, and he then shouted to Leese: "Who the f*** are you? You need to pull over, there are people in the back here."
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."
Elderly patient at risk
The court heard that a man in his 80s, who was on blood thinners, was being treated for a head injury in the back of the ambulance.
Mr Holt said: "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.
Sentence and background
Leese was able to drive the ambulance away because it was left on "run lock" mode, which keeps the vehicle running but allows paramedics to remove the keys from the ignition.
Jennifer Devans-Tamakloe, defending Leese, said he led an "extraordinarily difficult and chaotic lifestyle", adding: "He has been abusing alcohol and drugs for a significant length of time." She told the court Leese's "daily use of monkey dust has a negative impact on his mental state" and caused him to experience delusions and paranoia leading up to the offence.
Leese, who appeared in court by video-link from HMP Dovegate near Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, has 16 convictions for 22 previous offences, including a vehicle theft in 2009.
In his sentencing remarks, Recorder Ben Williams KC told the defendant: "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 said the paramedic in the ambulance, who was with the elderly man and his carer, was mainly concerned about the patient but "described himself as being terrified about the whole situation". Leese was sentenced to 21 months' imprisonment.
