Drunk sent to jail for blocking ambulance

9:26am Friday 21st December 2007

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A man who drunkenly obstructed an ambulance which was taking a dying man to hospital has been jailed for four months.

Michael Boyd lay on the bonnet of the ambulance in Ashton-in-Makerfield and threatened to kill the driver, despite being told by him: "We have a dying man in the back."

He and two others had blocked the vehicle's way by parking a motorbike in its path.

When the ambulance driver asked them to move the motorbike, they laughed and prevented him from doing so while issuing threats.

It was only when the driver threatened to ring the police that Boyd backed off.

The ambulance was taking Norman Bell, aged 84, to hospital after he collapsed while playing bowls.

The retired engineer was playing in a bowls tournament at St Oswald's Catholic Social Club when he fell ill at 7.25pm on July 19.

Boyd, aged 22, of Valentine Road, Newton-le-Willows, initially denied a public order offence but later changed his plea to guilty.

He was sentenced to four months in jail at Wigan Magistrates' Court.

The paramedic who tried to save Mr Bell's life later told police that it was the worst case of abuse he had ever come across in his six-year career.