Jockey 'called for help' from burning Yorkshire flat

Peter Brown is accused of lighting a fire in the entrance to the flats

A jockey who survived a flat fire which killed two of his colleagues has told a court how one of them "called for help" from a window of the burning building.

Dean Pratt said moments after hearing Jan Wilson's cries he was forced to dive head-first to the ground below.

Miss Wilson, 19, from Forfar in Angus, and Jamie Kyne, 18, from County Galway, the Irish Republic, died in the fire near Malton, North Yorkshire, in 2009.

Peter Brown, 37, of Brotherton, North Yorkshire, denies two murder charges.

Mr Pratt told Leeds Crown Court he had been staying on the sofa in a flat in Buckrose Court occupied by Mr Kyne, Ian Brennan and Mr Brennan's girlfriend, Miss Wilson.

He said he was woken in the early hours of 5 September by Mr Brennan, who told him there was a fire and to get out.

The jockeys died in the fire at Buckrose Court

The jury heard the room was full of "thick smoke". Mr Pratt said he was beaten back by flames as he opened the front door, and recalled Miss Wilson standing by a window, which was open.

"She was calling for help. I was standing beside her," he added.

Mr Pratt said moments later he was left with "no choice" but to dive head-first from a window of the top-floor flat to the ground below.

"I just had to get out," he told prosecutor Richard Mansell QC.

'Full of smoke'

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

The prosecution allege that Mr Brown lit a fire in the entrance as an act of "revenge" after he was refused entry to a party at one of the flats.

I was just panicking, I didn't really think it was happening

Ian Brennan

Apprentice jockey Mr Brennan, 20, said he was woken by a fire alarm. He woke up Miss Wilson and went to Mr Kyne's room, which was full of smoke.

Mr Brennan said he started crawling, using the wall to guide him, before going back into his bedroom and jumping from a second-floor window.

"I was just panicking, I didn't really think it was happening. I just tried to get out," he said.

He added: "I was shouting that Jamie and Jan were still in there. I had a quick look round and realised that they had not got out."

Mr Brennan said when he told Mr Brown, who lived at the complex, that his friends were trapped inside the building, Mr Brown ran to the door and tried to get in.

"Pete ran back and started hugging me and said 'we will find out who did this, it will be all right'."

The trial continues.