MEMBERS OF the family of 18-year-old Galway jockey Jamie Kyne who was killed in a suspicious fire in a flat in North Yorkshire at the weekend have travelled to Britain to prepare to bring his body home for burial.
His mother Madeleine and an uncle have been briefed on circumstances surrounding the blaze which broke out in Norton, near Malton, in the early hours of Sunday and left Mr Kyne and fellow jockey Jan Wilson dead.
Forensic tests at the flat will not be completed for days, and postmortems on the bodies have still to be completed.
Neighbours and friends continued to call yesterday to the Kyne family home at Kiltrogue in Claregalway, about 15km from Galway city, to offer condolences on the death of the young man who left for the UK 18 months ago.
Locals and horse-racing colleagues have already laid flowers in tribute, including flat jockey Kieren Fallon, who said: “You will be missed every day. RIP. With love Kirsty and Kieren Fallon.”
Liam Foley, who lived in the flat below the jockeys, said they were always in and out of each other's rooms, sharing drinks. He denied a party had been under way at the time of the fire. He told the Yorkshire Post: "There was no party going on. We were just playing cards and called it a night at 12." He went out to get a takeaway meal to eat in his room.
“When I opened my door it was fire upstairs and fire downstairs and black smoke in the middle. I knocked on their door to wake them up. I could not get up or down the stairs so I had to jump out of the window. It was a nightmare. It happened that fast. It went up like a match and there were no fire extinguishers so what could we do?”
A 37-year-old local man has been arrested and bailed in connection with the incident. Police appealed to witnesses who were in the area early on Sunday.
The remains of Mr Kyne and Ms Wilson (19), were found on the second floor of a property from which two other young riders, Dean Pratt and Ian Brennan, jumped to safety.
In Claregalway, Joe Connelly, the principal of Cregmore National School, which Mr Kyne had attended, said his progress had been followed closely since he left last year “to live his dream” in England.
He is survived by his parents Gerry and Madeleine, brothers Francis, Jason, Brandon and Daniel and sister Cassandra.