Monkey dust addict who stole ambulance with elderly patient and paramedic in the back is jailed

Published: 08:39 EST, 10 November 2026 | Updated: 08:45 EST, 10 November 2026 A drug addict who stole an ambulance from outside a hospital with a paramedic and elderly patient in the back before taking it on a two-mile joy ride has been jailed. Marshall Leese, 32, a prolific user of monkey dust, took the ambulance from outside the Royal Stoke University Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent in March. He then drove 'erratically' for more than 20 minutes including going through red lights, a court has heard.The 'terrified' paramedic screamed at Leese to pull over but he drove on. Leese, who suffered delusions as a result of his drug use, had been 'ushered out' of the driver's seat of a different ambulance by paramedics moments before he drove off in the second one, a court heard. It had been parked in a triage bay and was in 'run lock' mode, which keeps the vehicle running but allows paramedics to take the keys out of the ignition.The driver had gone inside the hospital with the keys while another paramedic was treating a patient in the back of the ambulance when Leese got inside and drove it away. The court heard Marshall Leese, 32, has a mental illness related to his use of the synthetic drug monkey dustPolice who were called to the scene tracked the vehicle to a petrol station on the A34 in Newcastle-under-Lyme where Leese got out and fled. He ran off into woodland but was found by a sniffer dog. During his police interview, Leese denied taking the vehicle and said he was cycling in the area and looking for a friend before he was approached by a police dog and bitten.He later admitted false imprisonment and aggravated vehicle taking and was jailed for 21 months at Stoke Crown Court on Tuesday. Footage showed Leese getting into the Fiat Ducato ambulance and driving away, before he tried to hide from police when he stopped the vehicle at a petrol station. 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.'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.'Jennifer Devans-Tamakloe, in mitigation for 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.The court heard that Leese thought he was 'being controlled' and 'receiving coded messages' which guided him to take the ambulance.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, the court heard.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'.