A Stoke-on-Trent man has been jailed after he stole an ambulance with a patient inside at Royal Stoke University Hospital.

Marshall Leese, 32, of Hanley, was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court today (Tuesday 10 November).

Detective Constable Lili Rose Gregory, from the Staffordshire Police 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."

It comes after Leese got into the driver's seat of an ambulance that was parked in a triage bay at the hospital on 25 March this year.

The ambulance was in a 'run lock' mode, which keeps the vehicle running but allows paramedics to take the keys out the ignition.

At the time, a paramedic was treating a patient in the back of the ambulance.

Officers pursued the ambulance when it left the hospital.

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Staffordshire Police said Leese abandoned the ambulance at a petrol station on London Road in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

A spokesperson for Staffordshire Police said: "He ran off into the woodland but was quickly sniffed out by Police Dog Foxy and their handler, where he was bitten after failing to listen to instructions.

"We gathered all of the evidence needed to charge him, which later leaded to 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."