Survivor of jockeys fire breaks down in court

A stable hand who escaped from a blazing flat which claimed the lives of two jockeys broke down in tears today as a jury was played a recording of a 999 call she made.

Lizzie Murphy, 18, had to be led from Leeds Crown Court in tears as the audio clip was played to the jury.

During the brief call she frantically asks for help as the blaze takes hold at the flat where she was sleeping with her boyfriend Liam Foley.

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

Several friends and relatives of the two victims had to be comforted as the emergency call was played to the jury.

It is claimed father-of-one Peter Brown, 37, lit a fire in the communal entrance to the block in Norton, near Malton, North Yorkshire.

Prosecutors said a drunken Brown set fire to the complex as an act of "revenge" after he was refused entry to a party in September last year.

The fire "raged" through the building forcing many of the occupants to jump for their lives.

Between screams, Miss Murphy is heard saying: "We've got a fire and we can't get out."

She was repeatedly told to calm down and that help was on the way.

Earlier the jury was told that Brown sent "creepy" text messages to a girl

Brown was accused of sending the messages to Jordan Lambert several months before the fatal fire.

Miss Lambert's boyfriend, Joseph Thorpe, recalled the messages being sent to her mobile phone in May last year.

Mr Thorpe said they seemed "creepy" and he remembered "cringing" when he read them.

He added: "They just seemed creepy almost, and poetical stuff about her eyes."

Prosecutors at Leeds Crown Court have told the jury that father-of-one Brown had threatened to "torch the place" weeks before the blaze which killed Mr Kyne and Miss Wilson.

Miss Wilson, who had been staying with her boyfriend, Ian Brennan, and Mr Kyne were asleep in Flat 5 on the top floor of Buckrose Court when the alarm was raised.

The jury heard yesterday that Brown - who later described himself to police as a "drunken Scotsman" - had been drinking in several pubs before the fire started.

In the meantime, a party had been going on mainly in Flat 4 but those attending also went in and out of Flat 5, the jury has been told.

The prosecution claim Brown returned to the complex, where he allegedly used an accelerant, possibly white spirit, to start a blaze with rubbish.

Alarms sounded and residents woke to find the complex on fire. Many were forced to jump from windows or climb down a drainpipe as the flames took hold.

Miss Wilson was seen screaming at the window as the flat filled with smoke, the jury has heard.

Mr Brennan managed to jump from a window of Flat 5 with another resident, Dean Pratt.

The prosecution claim Brown had fallen out with the occupants of Flat 4 in the complex, where he also lived.

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

The court heard that Miss Lambert had been staying at Buckrose Court and had got to know the defendant.

She denied kissing him and flirting with him but conceded he was known by some of the other girls in the complex as "Pete the sexy builder".

The court was told that, in May last year, there had been an argument at the flat and a punch-up involving a friend of Brown.

The atmosphere was described as "distressing" and they all left the flat and walked to a pub in Malton where it was alleged Brown sent Miss Lambert, who was 17 at the time, the text messages.

He was walking behind the group as they made their way to a local pub.

Further messages were sent in the early hours as the group arrived back home, the court heard.

Miss Lambert told the court some of them were derogatory about her boyfriend, calling him "queer" and one referred to her as a "whore".

Stable hand Elizabeth Murphy, who also lived at the complex, recalled a party in Brown's flat.

She recalled visiting his flat and found her boyfriend, Liam Foley, "racking" up a line of powder.

She told the jury she got upset. Asked why, she said: "He was just about to snort some powder."

She said she felt "angry" and she started shouting.

She told the jury Brown got angry with her, called her a "silly cow" and told her: "Let him do what he wants."