A local man who stole a GHA patient transport vehicle and then abandoned it in the Upper Town following a collision was sentenced to time served this week.

At the Magistrates’ Court last Tuesday 28 January, Francis Alman, 24, of the Varyl Begg Estate, pleaded guilty to Aggravated Vehicle Taking, No Insurance and No Driving Licence.

Since his arrest, Alman had been remanded in HM Prison for the past five weeks and a day. He received the time served sentence for the Aggravated Vehicle Taking and no separate penalties for No Insurance or No Driving Licence.

RGP Response Team officers arrested Alman just after 9pm on 18 December last year at Tankerville Ramp, after police received a report that a GHA car had been taken from the Accident and Emergency Department. 

Reports stated that it was seen driving erratically within the Upper Town before crashing in the area of the Sacred Heart Church. The vehicle sustained minor damage.

The court also heard he was spotted on CCTV trying to break into an ambulance at St Bernard’s Hospital before gaining access to the patient transport vehicle.

He told officers he did it ‘to prove a point’ after he said he had been turned away by a number of medical professionals.