A SURVIVOR of a blaze which killed two young jockeys told a jury that the man accused of starting it was pacing up and down before firefighters arrived saying “Someone’s done this”.

Chef Christopher Crosby described how he escaped from the flames in a block of flats in Norton, near Malton, North Yorkshire, in the early hours of September 5 last year by jumping from a window.

Leeds Crown Court has heard the fire claimed the lives of apprentice jockeys Jamie Kyne, 18, from Kiltrogue, Co Galway, Ireland, and Jan Wilson, 19, from Forfar, Scotland.

Yesterday, Mr Crosby told the jury he and his girlfriend went to the front of the block after both jumped to safety and he found a number of people had gathered, including Peter Brown, who is accused of starting the fire.

He said: “He was pacing up and down. He looked angry and drunk as well.”

Mr Crosby said Mr Brown was talking to himself and, asked what he was saying, he said: “I remember him saying ‘someone’s done this’.”

He told the jury Mr Brown probably said this twice and added: “It was as if he was trying to pin the blame to someone.”

Earlier, Mr Crosby described how he and his girlfriend, Leonie Lenaghan, were woken by fire alarms before they escaped.

He said he encouraged jockey Ian Brennan to jump after he was spotted hanging from a window on the top floor.

Mr Crosby described how he broke Mr Brennan’s fall as he jumped from the flat he had been in with Mr Kyne and Miss Wilson when the fire broke out.

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

Miss Lenaghan told the jury that people from the flats gathered in the nearby Railway Tavern.

She said did not know about Mr Kyne’s death until Mr Brown mentioned it.

“Pete said we should stop talking about Jamie because he’s dead,” she said. “It was horrible the way he said it to us.”

Prosecutors have told the jury of six men and six women that Mr Brown, 37, started the blaze when he lit rubbish in the communal entrance to the block of flats, known as Buckrose Court.

The prosecution case is that a drunken Brown torched the complex as an act of revenge after he was refused entry to a party in one of the flats.

The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.