THE career of an ambulance technician is in ruins after he was yesterday jailed for three years for indecently assaulting a teenage girl.

Michael Wise followed the 14-year-old home from South Shields town centre and carried out the indecent act as she reached her doorstep.

But it was only the bravery of three 15-year-old boys who chased and caught Wise as he fled after the incident which led to his arrest.

Wise, 36, who has worked for the North-East Ambulance Service for the past ten years, was described as a danger to women by a judge at Durham Crown Court.

Jailing Wise, who has been placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for life, Judge Beatrice Bolton said he presented a high risk of offending again, after hearing of a previous conviction for indecent exposure.

Judge Bolton said it was disturbing that he kept his job after that conviction in 1996.

Wise, of Cornforth Close, Wardley, Gateshead, admitted indecent assault at a hearing in January.

A Northumbria Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: "We regard this matter as extremely serious and as soon as it came to light, he was immediately suspended."