A man who stole an ambulance carrying an elderly patient drove it for more than 20 minutes before being stopped by police, a court has heard. Marshall Leese, 32, took the vehicle from a triage area outside Royal Stoke University Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent on March 25 while a patient was receiving treatment in the back.
Details of the incident
Prosecutors said Leese drove erratically and went through red lights during the incident, The Mirror reports. Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard Leese had been experiencing delusions linked to the drug monkey dust. Moments before taking the ambulance, he had been removed from the driver's seat of another emergency vehicle by paramedics.
CCTV footage shown to jurors captured Leese driving away in the Fiat Ducato ambulance before later stopping at a petrol station in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, where he tried to hide from police.
Court proceedings
Prosecutor Robert Holt said a paramedic at first believed a colleague had returned to the driver's seat before the vehicle began moving. He then shouted at 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."
A man in his 80s, and on blood thinners at the time, was being treated for a head injury in the back of the ambulance, the court was told. Mr Holt continued: "If the ambulance crashed with him on board, there would have been no chance of survival."
Sentencing
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. The vehicle was left on "run lock" mode, which keeps the ambulance running while allowing paramedics to remove the keys from the ignition. This is how Leese was able to hijack the vehicle.
On Tuesday (November 10), Leese was sentenced to 21 months' imprisonment, while 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." 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 leading up to the offence. He thought 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 added that 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".
