A judge told a driver she displayed “moronic stupidity” by deliberately and repeatedly blocking an ambulance which was carrying a dying patient. Annika Avery, 20, of Leicester, was given a five-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. She had already admitted dangerous driving.

The court was told that Avery overtook the ambulance at speed and slowed down, causing the vehicle to brake suddenly.

She did this even though the siren was on, Leicester Crown Court heard. Avery, of Tatlow Road, Glenfield, was said to be under stress at the time of the incident in July 2008, although no other reason was given for her behaviour. In the back of the ambulance a paramedic was giving heart compressions to an elderly patient. Such was the force of the braking that the paramedic was flung the length of the vehicle, the court heard. The driver of the ambulance said at one stage Avery pulled alongside him and she was travelling at 60mph (96km/h) in a 40mph (64km/h) area.

The paramedic said he looked across and saw Avery and a male passenger laughing and making obscene gestures. The patient in the ambulance died and the judge said if Avery’s driving had played any part in that death, she would have been facing a very different sentence.