Ambulance theft teenager jailed

The teenager was on his third Asbo when he stole the ambulance

A teenager who stole an ambulance and caused £100,000 worth of damage when he crashed it into a wall has been jailed for three years.

Steven McGladdery, of Moorbeck Way, Ormesby, Teesside, led police on a 60mph pursuit through a housing estate after he stole the key from paramedics.

The 19-year-old was sentenced on Friday at Teesside Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified, no insurance and breach of an Asbo.

The ambulance crew had been treating a casualty at a house in Allendale Road, Ormesby, on 8 February, when McGladdery wandered in and started swearing and pushing the paramedics.

'Abominable behaviour'

He then left the house and when the crew went outside they noticed the ambulance had gone.

It was traced within minutes, via its on-board tracking device, and the teenager then led police on a high-speed pursuit before crashing it into a wall and a car.

The court heard the Mercedes ambulance was damaged to such an extent that it could not be repaired and Tees, East and North Yorkshire ambulance service was left one vehicle short for nearly two months.

McGladdery was on his third Asbo at the time of the chase, imposed after he rammed a stolen car into a police car and a house in Redcar, Teesside, in 2005.

Sentencing the teenager, Recorder Martin Bethel QC said: "Your behaviour was quite abominable.

"You took an ambulance which was answering a call, you drove it in an extraordinarily dangerous way, you wrote it off at a cost of £100,000 and you left that area with a lack of ambulance cover."

McGladdery was sentenced to three years in a young offenders' institution, disqualified from driving for four years, and given a fresh Asbo for three years on his release.