A man has admitted stealing an ambulance from outside a hospital in Stoke-on-Trent while a paramedic was treating a patient inside the vehicle. Marshall Leese, 32, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and aggravated vehicle taking after driving off from the Royal Stoke University Hospital, an incident that put both the patient and treating paramedic at risk during what should have been a routine hospital arrival.

The ambulance was taken from a triage bay at around 8pm on 25 March while in "run lock" mode, which keeps the engine running so paramedics can leave the keys but still exit the vehicle. Staffordshire Police tracked the vehicle after it was reported stolen, and it eventually stopped running under the run lock's automatic cut-off. Leese abandoned the ambulance at an Esso petrol station in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, before fleeing into nearby woodland, where he was bitten on the hand by a police dog after failing to comply with officers' instructions.