A man accused of setting fire to a UK block of flats killing two promising young jockeys, including Claregalway native Jamie Kyne, refused to give evidence at his trial yesterday.
The trial, which began over two weeks ago, is continuing at Leeds Crown Court where the jury also heard expert witness testimony on Tuesday that the fatal blaze had been lit using a “large amount of material” and a “substantial ignition source”.
The blaze which broke out at Buckrose Court flats in Norton, near Malton, in North Yorkshire, on September 5, 2009, claimed the lives of 18-year-old Kyne, from Kiltrogue, Co Galway, and fellow apprentice jockey Jan Wilson (19 ), from Forfar in Scotland.
The accused man, 37-year-old Peter Brown of School Croft, Botherton, North Yorkshire, denies two counts of murder, two alternative charges of manslaughter, and one charge of arson with intent to endanger life.
Yesterday, Richard Mansell QC, prosecuting, told the jury that the prosecution had finished presenting its case. Paul Watson QC, defending, then said that his client would be exercising his right not to take to the witness box.
Martin Shipp, an expert in assessing fires, gave evidence this week that the rapidly spreading wild flames could not have started as a smouldering fire. Mr Shipp explained that the geology of the fire, primarily on the ground floor, could have developed into a fire quickly if it had been presented with the right material. He said that it was not plausible for the fire to have spread from a smouldering ignition to a flaming ignition. Mr Shipp said that based on his experience the fire would have needed a “very substantial ignition source”.
During the lengthy trial the jury also heard how the prosecution alleges that Brown, a former resident and caretaker at the flats, had set the fire as an act of revenge after he was refused entry to a party, and that he lit a pile of rubbish in the communal entrance to the block using an accelerant such as white spirit. It was also claimed that Brown had been sending creepy text messages to a teenage girl living in the flats several months before the fire.
The trial continues
