A STABLE hand who escaped from a blaze that claimed the lives of two jockeys broke down in tears yesterday as a jury heard a recording of a 999 call she made.

During the brief call, Lizzie Murphy, 18, frantically asks for help as the fire takes hold at the flat where she was asleep with boyfriend Liam Foley.

The blaze killed apprentice jockeys Jamie Kyne, 18, from Kiltrogue, County Galway, Ireland, and Jan Wilson, 19, from Forfar, Scotland.

It is claimed that 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 being refused entry to a party in September last year.

The fire ‘‘raged’’ through the building forcing many 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. On the recording she is heard screaming and saying ‘‘I’m climbing out’’.

Earlier, Miss Murphy told Leeds Crown Court that several friends, many of whom worked in the North Yorkshire racing industry, attended a party at the complex.

She and her friends were a bit ‘‘tipsy’’ but she went to bed at 12.45am on September 5 last year.

Miss Murphy said she woke to hear a faint alarm sounding and on investigation, could see flames below. She said she was ‘‘a bit hysterical’’ adding: “I was screaming, ‘Liam, Liam, get up, there’s a fire’.’’ She told the court she and her boyfriend dressed and she made the 999 call but could find no way out up or down stairs because of the flames.

Miss Murphy described how they returned to their bedroom and escaped by climbing out of the first-floor bedroom window and down a drainpipe to safety.

When on the ground she noticed Mr Brown. Later, he allegedly told her: ‘‘This is your fault, this is what you get when you have parties.’’ 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 trial continues.