Man on drugs charged with hijacking ambulance with patient inside

By Ed Chatterton

A man high on drugs was arrested for hijacking an ambulance with a patient still inside before leading police on a chase.

Marshall Leese, 32, brazenly jumped into the driver’s side of the emergency vehicle at Royal Stoke University Hospital on March 25.

The vehicle had been left in “run lock” mode, allowing it to keep running while paramedics removed the keys from the ignition as it was parked in a triage bay.

Leese then sped off in the ambulance while a paramedic was still treating an elderly patient in the back.

Staffordshire Police launched a pursuit as the stolen emergency vehicle left the hospital grounds and drove through red lights.

He eventually abandoned the vehicle at a gas station on London Road in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, before making a run for it.

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He fled into nearby woodland but was tracked down by police dog Foxy and his handler, who can be heard shouting, “Do not move, any sudden movements will be taken as a threat.”

After ignoring officers’ commands, Leese was bitten by the dog before being arrested.

Leese admitting kidnap, theft of a motor vehicle, dangerous driving, failing to provide a specimen for analysis, driving without a licence and using a motor vehicle without third party insurance.

Leese, of Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, was today jailed for one year and nine months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.

Detective Constable Lili Rose Gregory, from the force’s criminal investigations department, said: “This was a particularly dangerous incident which could have ended very differently if it wasn’t for the quick actions of officers to apprehend Leese.

“I’m pleased we’ve been able to build all of the evidence needed to secure his conviction, despite his earlier attempts to say he’d done nothing wrong.”