Man jailed for 21 months for stealing ambulance with elderly patient inside

Mixed · 2Marshall Leese, 32, was jailed for 21 months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court for stealing an ambulance with an elderly patient and a paramedic inside. 1 2 Mixed · 2The theft took place on 25 March outside Royal Stoke University Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent; the Mirror says the vehicle was taken from a triage bay in the evening. 1 2 Mixed · 2Leese had pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and aggravated vehicle taking. The Mirror adds that he also admitted failing to provide a specimen for analysis at Wolverhampton New Cross Hospital and using a vehicle without third-party insurance. 1 2

Mixed · 2The ambulance was able to move because the driver had gone into the hospital with the keys while the vehicle was left in a mode that kept it running (the Mirror calls it "run lock"). This left a paramedic in the back with the elderly patient and the patient's carer. 1 2 Left · 1The Mirror reports that Leese had been "ushered out" of the driver's seat of a different ambulance by paramedics moments earlier. 2 Mixed · 2As the ambulance moved off, the paramedic shouted at Leese to stop. Recorder Ben Williams KC said that by continuing to drive, Leese intentionally committed false imprisonment. The paramedic was "terrified", and according to the BBC grabbed a metal pole and threatened to hit Leese with it. 1 2

Mixed · 2The court heard Leese did not drive at high speed but went through red lights, endangering other drivers and pedestrians. The judge said footage showed him exercising some care around other vehicles but still driving erratically. 1 2 Mixed · 2The patient was in his 80s. The Mirror says he was on blood thinners and being treated for a head injury. The BBC reports the judge saying he would not have survived a crash, and the Mirror quotes prosecutor Robert Holt saying there would have been "no chance of survival". 1 2 Mixed · 2Leese stopped at a petrol station in the Newcastle-under-Lyme area (the BBC says on the A34, the Mirror in Chesterton) and fled. The BBC says a police sniffer dog found him hiding nearby. 1 2

Mixed · 2The duration of the drive is reported differently: the BBC says police chased him for two miles, while the Mirror, citing the judge's calculations, says he drove for more than 20 minutes. 1 2 Left · 1Defending, Jennifer Devans-Tamakloe said Leese led an "extraordinarily difficult and chaotic lifestyle" and that his daily use of the drug monkey dust caused delusions and paranoia. The court heard he believed he was "being controlled" and receiving "coded messages" that guided him to take the ambulance. 2 Left · 1Leese, of Denbigh Street in Hanley, appeared by video-link from HMP Dovegate and has 16 convictions for 22 previous offences, including a vehicle theft in 2009. 2

Right · 1The Express adds that West Midlands Ambulance Service said a second ambulance was sent to recover the patient and take them back to hospital, and that it called the theft "an incredibly dangerous and reckless act" which also took a vital emergency vehicle away from other patients. 3 Right · 1Staffordshire Police said that after leaving the ambulance Leese ran into woodland and was found by police dog Foxy, which bit him on the hand when he failed to comply with instructions. Detective Constable Lili Rose Gregory said the incident could have ended very differently without officers' quick actions, and that Leese had earlier tried to say he had done nothing wrong. 3 Mixed · 2Metro, like the Mirror, reports the Fiat Ducato footage, the "run lock" mode, the extra charges and Leese's delusions from monkey dust, while the Express calls him a "dozy drug addict" and "prolific monkey dust user". 4 3