Death-blaze accused 'had to be stopped from entering inferno'

Police Sergeant Gawen Dickinson said he had already had to manhandle an aggressively behaving Peter Brown out of his flat, which was in a block adjoining those on fire at Buckrose Court, Norton, because officers were evacuating the buildings.

Once outside he was talking to another officer when he saw Brown, who smelled of drink, "make a beeline" towards the communal entrance to the flats where the blaze was spreading.

"I chased across and grabbed him as he was on the step," he told Leeds Crown Court yesterday. He said he told Brown: "You can't go in there, you won't come out."

Sgt Dickinson told Richard Mansell QC, prosecuting, that by then the entrance was "just an inferno, red, in flames, just burning away, it was very hot and intense, just an inferno".

When he and another officer had arrived about five minutes earlier they realised even then the fire was too bad for them to get inside and by the time he grabbed Brown "it was even worse".

The fire brigade had not yet arrived and Brown kept repeating: "There are people in there, there are people in there."

The blaze claimed the lives of jockeys Jan Wilson, 19, from Forfar, Scotland, and Jamie Kyne, 18 from Co Galway.

Prosecutors claim Brown deliberately started the fire in revenge for being refused entry to a party at one of the flats.

Brown, 37, denies the murder of Miss Wilson and Mr Kyne, alternative charges of manslaughter, and arson intending to endanger life on September 5 last year.

Sgt Dickinson said when he first got to the courtyard outside, Brown was among a small group of people but he noticed him in particular because he kept moving around.

"That behaviour seemed unusual compared with the rest of the people who were stood watching," he told the court.

It was not possible to get into the flats because of the blaze but he and another officer went into an adjoining block to check everyone was out.

He went to the first floor and as he got to it Brown pushed past to go inside the flat, which was his. He told him he could not stay there but he said Brown was aggressive and shouting and refused to leave.

The officer said he noticed a "strong smell of alcohol on him, his eyes were dilated." He grabbed Brown by the arms intending to pull him out but was then called upstairs by his colleague concerned the flat there was locked and worried someone might be trapped.

Before they broke in, however, they were told the resident had got out so Sgt Dickinson returned to Brown's flat and found him still there. This time he "manhandled" him out and down the stairs.

Once outside, he said, it was then Brown tried to get in through the door to the other flats and he twice had to pull him away. "He was right in my face, I ended up wrestling him as I pushed him back."

He told the court Brown continued to wander around and at one stage asked him: "Are the people inside dead."

Under cross-examination by Paul Watson QC, defending Brown, Sgt Dickinson agreed people were concerned as they waited for the fire brigade to arrive knowing others were still inside.

Colin Young, a retained part-time firefighter, told the court his beeper activated at home at 2.13am and as soon as enough crew had arrived at the station the engine was despatched.

As he took a hose down to the blaze he saw a policeman involved in a confrontation with a man whose fists and feet were flying.

The hearing continues.