April 28, 2010
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Fire and Death
Court hears Malton jockey fire 999 call
Peter Brown denies starting the fire in which the two jockeys diedA teenager who escaped from a flat fire which claimed the lives of two young jockeys broke down as a jury was played a recording of a 999 call she made.
Jamie Kyne, 18, from County Galway, the Irish Republic, and Jan Wilson, 19, from Forfar in Angus, died in the fire near Malton, North Yorkshire, in 2009.
Peter Brown, 37, of Brotherton, North Yorkshire, denies two murder charges at Leeds Crown Court.
Lizzie Murphy was heard screaming and asking for help during the 999 call.
Miss Murphy, 18, a stable hand, was heard on the recording saying: “We’ve got a fire and we can’t get out.”
She was heard screaming and saying: “I’m climbing out.”
The operator then tells her: “We are on our way. We’ve got fire engines on the way.”
Several friends and relatives of the two victims had to be comforted as the emergency call was played to the jury and Miss Murphy was led from the court in tears.
‘Creepy texts’
Before the call was played, Miss Murphy told the court that several friends, many of whom worked in the racing industry in North Yorkshire, attended a party at the Buckrose Court flats complex.
Miss Murphy was sleeping at the flat with her boyfriend Liam Foley when the fire took hold on 5 September 2009.
She said she woke to hear a faint alarm sounding and saw flames licking at the railings below her when she went to investigate on her landing.
Miss Murphy said she was “a bit hysterical” as she went back into her flat, alerted her boyfriend and made the 999 call.
The jockeys died in the fire at Buckrose CourtShe told the court Mr Foley could not find a way up or down the stairs due to the flames, so the pair escaped by climbing out of the first-floor bedroom window and down a drainpipe.
When on the ground she said she noticed Mr Brown taking off his jumper. She said he wrapped it around his head and tried to enter the flats, but was beaten back.
Later, she said he told her: “This is your fault, this is what you get when you have parties.”
Earlier the court heard Mr Brown sent “creepy” text messages to a girl several months before the fire.
The prosecution claim Mr Brown set fire to the Buckrose Court complex as an act of “revenge” after he was refused entry to a party.
Mr Brown also denies two alternative charges of manslaughter and one charge of arson with intent to endanger life.
The trial continues.
