A Hanley man who drove off from Royal Stoke University Hospital in an ambulance while a paramedic treated a patient in the back has been jailed for 21 months.
This article is based on reporting from the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), a BBC funded initiative set up to strengthen reporting on local democratic issues. The Staffordshire Signal has taken part in the scheme since September 2026, which means we're able to draw on a selection of LDRS stories alongside our own.
What's new: Marshall Leese, 32, of Hanley, was jailed at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on Tuesday 10 November for taking an ambulance from Royal Stoke with a patient and paramedic still inside.
By the numbers: One year and nine months in prison, for six offences including kidnap and dangerous driving.
Why it matters: Ambulances are often left running while crews treat patients, and this case shows how quickly that can be exploited, with a patient's safety put at risk.
A man who drove off in an ambulance while a paramedic was treating a patient in the back has been jailed.
Marshall Leese, 32, of Hanley, was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on Tuesday 10 November.
The court heard that on 25 March this year, Leese climbed into the driver's seat of an ambulance parked in a triage bay at Royal Stoke University Hospital. The vehicle had been left in "run lock" mode, a setting which keeps the engine running so crews can take the keys out of the ignition while they work.
A paramedic was treating a patient in the back of the ambulance when Leese drove it away.
Police officers followed the ambulance as it left the hospital. Leese later abandoned it at a petrol station on London Road in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, and ran into nearby woodland.
He didn't get far. Police Dog Foxy and her handler tracked him down, and Leese was bitten after failing to follow officers' instructions.
Leese went on to admit 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.
Detective Constable Lili Rose Gregory, from Staffordshire Police'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."
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