Young jockeys 'murdered in revenge attack by caretaker'

Drinking 'changed character' of arson accused

Peter Brown, who had also snorted a line of cocaine that night, brooded about his humiliation, and deliberately lit a fire in the ground floor hallway when he returned to the flats at Buckrose Court, Norton, adjoining his home, Peter Mansell, QC, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court.

The blaze swiftly took hold and "raged through the building" claiming the lives of jockeys Jamie Kyne, 18, from Co Galway, Ireland and Jan Wilson, 19, from Forfar, Scotland who were overcome by smoke in a top floor flat before they could escape.

Mr Mansell told the jury yesterday it was the Crown's case Brown "committed the offence out of revenge for what he perceived was a humiliation suffered at the hands of the occupants of a first floor flat within the same block who had insulted him and refused him entry to a house party just three hours or so earlier."

There was a history of ill-feeling between Brown and some of the occupants of that flat and he may have wanted to "teach them a lesson" by frightening them or "smoking them out" of the building, he said.

As the fire burned Brown made what appeared to be "a foolhardy and pointless attempt to break into the flat complex, " said Mr Mansell.

He told the jury they would have to consider whether that was "an attempt by the man responsible for lighting the fire to reverse what he had done minutes earlier having regretted his actions" or whether it was "nothing more than a feigned performance designed to cover his tracks."

Brown, 37, denies murdering Miss Wilson and Mr Kyne on September 5 last year, alternative charges of manslaughter and a fifth charge of arson with intent to endanger life.

Mr Mansell told the six-man six-woman jury that on the evening of September 4 an informal party was being held in the block of flats concerned.

The base for the party was Flat 4, although the residents and visitors also spent time during the evening going up to Flat 5 where the tenants were jockeys Ian Brennan and Jamie Kyne.

Miss Wilson was visiting her boyfriend Mr Brennan and another friend, Dean Pratt, was temporarily living there, sleeping on the sofa.

Brown lived in an adjoining block, and previously acted as caretaker doing occasional maintenance at the flats for the owner Alan Foster, but that arrangement had been terminated because of financial constraints only a few weeks earlier when Brown allegedly threatened to kill him and also "torch" the place.

His personal life was also not going well, having separated from his wife in 2006. He later described himself as feeling lonely that night and decided to have a few drinks.

On his way out of the complex he saw the party in full swing and asked whether he could join in but was refused and one of the occupants of the flat Elizabeth Murphy shouted at him "you're off your head, we don't want you near us."

Another visitor called him a "mash" a slang expression for a man making unwanted advances to women. Brown later told police he had never heard that before and took it as an insult but ignored them.

He returned to his flat and drank more whisky but with the verbal exchanges on his mind went and warned Mr Foster to keep an eye on things.

He then went to pubs drinking, describing himself as a "drunken Scotsman", and was seen on CCTV returning around 2am. Mr Mansell said it was then alleged he deliberately set fire to the bottom steps in the communal entrance or to rubbish piled up under the stairwell.

"An accelerant such as white spirit may have been used or involved as a piece of cardboard was found amongst the debris after the fire which contained traces of that spirit."

Fire alarms went off and other residents climbed down a drainpipe or jumped from windows. Mr Pratt was injured in the process. He had seen Miss Wilson screaming as their flat filled with smoke but neither she nor Mr Kyne made it out.

Her body was found in the living room, his on the floor of his bedroom. Both died from smoke inhalation and burns.

The trial continues.