A MANIC DEPRESSIVE who rammed three police vehicles on the A19 south of York and then tried to hit a fourth has been locked up indefinitely in a secure hospital.

The Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, said today it was a miracle no one had been seriously injured or killed as Ian Robert Leaper, 36, expertly manoeuvred an 18-tonne digger along the A19 near Barlby.

Andrew Stranex, prosecuting, told York Crown Court that the 36-year-old rammed one police car with the digger's bucket held at head height, chased a car driven by a member of the public, shunted a second police vehicle to the side of the road, and drove at a vehicle that tried to bring his careering journey to an end.

Then he holed up in a friend's address in Barlby while armed police surrounded it for two hours late on March 23.

Leaper, of George Terrace, Barlby, admitted three charges of criminal damage, being reckless as to whether life would be endangered, and aggravated taking of a digger without consent.

The judge made an order under the Mental Health Act which means that he must be detained in a secure hospital indefinitely and cannot be released without the Home Secretary's permission.

Leaper was taken from court to Westerdale Ward, Clifton House, north York.

Doctor Peter MacAllister, a registrar in forensic psychiatry, told the court that Leaper suffered from bi-polar condition disorder - manic depression - which meant that he was all right providing he took medicine.

"It appears when in the grip of this illness you didn't take your tablets," the judge told Leaper. "It seems to me you must be sent to a place where your treatment can be enforced."

Leaper was banned from driving for six years.

Mr Stranex said that at one point PC Karen Taylor was trapped in a vehicle which Leaper had upturned with the digger, and had to be rescued by her colleague PC Karl Simpson.

PC Cheryl Moore was the driver of the first police vehicle to be rammed. She was picked up by the second police vehicle which was then rammed by Leaper. As the second vehicle was shunted to the side of the road, officers saw Leaper apparently waving a weapon.

Updated: 14:04 Thursday, December 18, 2003