Murder accused 'made life difficult' for fire crews

The owner of a block of flats where two young jockeys, one of them Irish, died in a fire told a jury today how the man accused of starting the blaze was “making life difficult” for firefighters as they fought the flames.

Alan Foster told a court how Peter Brown was outside the flats complex in Norton, North Yorkshire, as emergency services tackled the fire which killed Jamie Kyne, 18, from Kiltrogue, Co Galway, and Jan Wilson, 19, from Forfar, Scotland.

Mr Foster, who lived in the complex, was asked by Paul Watson QC, defending, whether his car, which was parked outside, was obstructing the fire service.

He told the jury at Leeds Crown Court: “Pete was making life difficult for the firemen, jumping on them and shouting at them.”

Mr Foster said he had been in bed for about half an hour when he was woken in the early hours of September 5 last year.

He said that when he came out of his flat he was puzzled why the fire appeared to be on the ground floor of the block and on the top floor but not in the middle.

Asked by Mr Watson about earlier that night, Mr Foster said he recalled the defendant saying to him: “Watch, because everything will kick off tonight.”

He said he thought Brown was referring to one of the flats having a party and lots of people turning up for it.

“But it didn’t happen,” he added.

Mr Foster told the jury how, earlier in the year, he had given people in one of the flats notice to leave after a noisy party.

This was a different flat to the one in which the jockeys died, which was on the top floor.

Prosecutors have told the jury of six men and six women that Brown (aged 37) started the blaze when he lit rubbish in the communal entrance to the block of flats known as Buckrose Court.

Brown was a former caretaker for the complex and lived in one of the blocks.

The prosecution case is that a drunken Brown torched the complex as an act of revenge after he was refused entry to a party in one of the flats.

The fire forced many of the occupants to jump for their lives or climb down drainpipes.

Miss Wilson and Mr Kyne were trapped in a top floor flat.

Brown, of School Croft, Brotherton, North Yorkshire, denies two charges of murder, two charges of manslaughter and one of arson with intent to endanger life.