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10 December 2010
Last updated at 08:57 ET
A man has been jailed for a minimum of seven-and-a-half years for killing two promising young jockeys in an arson attack in North Yorkshire.
Jamie Kyne, 18, from County Galway in the Irish Republic and Jan Wilson, 19, from Forfar in Angus, died in the fire at flats near Malton in September 2009.
Peter Brown, 37, of Brotherton, North Yorkshire, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter this year.
He was given an indeterminate sentence by a judge at Leeds Crown Court.
A court previously heard that Brown, a labourer originally from the Aberdeen area, started the fire when he lit rubbish in the communal entrance to the Buckrose Court flats on 5 September.
Brown, who lived in a neighbouring block and was a former caretaker for the complex, had started the fire in revenge for being refused entry to a party at one of the flats.
The court was told a drunken Brown, who chose not to give evidence at his trial, had used white spirit to set light to rubbish in the stairwell after he returned from drinking in local pubs in the early hours.
The fire quickly took hold as the stairwell was said to have acted like a chimney.
The fire forced many of the occupants to jump from the building or climb down drainpipes.
Miss Wilson and Mr Kyne were trapped in the top-floor flat and unable to escape.
Speaking after Brown was found guilty in May, Jan Hills, district Crown Prosecutor for CPS North Yorkshire, said his act of revenge "robbed" the jockeys' families of their loved ones and deprived the sporting world of two rising talents.
She said: "In setting fire to the block of flats, he cruelly snuffed out that youthful potential, all for the sake of a perceived slight after being refused entry to a party."
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Jamie Kyne, 18, from County Galway in the Irish Republic and Jan Wilson, 19, from Forfar in Angus, died in the fire at flats near Malton in September 2009.
Peter Brown, 37, of Brotherton, North Yorkshire, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter this year.
He was given an indeterminate sentence by a judge at Leeds Crown Court.
A court previously heard that Brown, a labourer originally from the Aberdeen area, started the fire when he lit rubbish in the communal entrance to the Buckrose Court flats on 5 September.
Brown, who lived in a neighbouring block and was a former caretaker for the complex, had started the fire in revenge for being refused entry to a party at one of the flats.
The court was told a drunken Brown, who chose not to give evidence at his trial, had used white spirit to set light to rubbish in the stairwell after he returned from drinking in local pubs in the early hours.
The fire quickly took hold as the stairwell was said to have acted like a chimney.
The fire forced many of the occupants to jump from the building or climb down drainpipes.
Miss Wilson and Mr Kyne were trapped in the top-floor flat and unable to escape.
Speaking after Brown was found guilty in May, Jan Hills, district Crown Prosecutor for CPS North Yorkshire, said his act of revenge "robbed" the jockeys' families of their loved ones and deprived the sporting world of two rising talents.
She said: "In setting fire to the block of flats, he cruelly snuffed out that youthful potential, all for the sake of a perceived slight after being refused entry to a party."
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