A stable hand who escaped from a blazing flat which claimed the lives of two jockeys broke own in tears today as a jury heard a recording of a 999 call she made.
Lizzie Murphy, 18, was led from Leeds Crown Court in tears as the audio clip was played.
During the brief call she frantically asks for help as the blaze takes hold at the flat where she as asleep with her boyfriend Liam Foley.
The blaze claimed the lives of apprentice jockeys Jamie Kyne, 18, from Kiltrogue, Co Galway, Ireland, and Jan Wilson, 19, from Forfar, Scotland.
Several friends and relatives of the two victims had to be comforted as the emergency call was played to the jury.
It is claimed 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 he was refused entry to a party in September last year.
The fire “raged” through the building forcing many of the occupants 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”.
The operator tells her: “We are on our way. We’ve got fire engines on the way.”
Miss Wilson’s mother, Margaret, sobbed as the recording was played.
Before the 999 call was played, Miss Murphy told the court that several friends, many of whom worked in the racing industry in North Yorkshire, attended a party at the flats complex.
Miss Murphy said she and her friends were a bit “tipsy” but she went to bed at 12.45am on September 5th last year as she was working later that day.
She said she woke to hear a faint alarm sounding and went to investigate on her landing. She said she could see the flames licking at the railings below her.
She said she was “a bit hysterical” as she went back into her flat, alerted her boyfriend and phoned the emergency services.
“I could see flames underneath. I could see the flames,” she told the jury.
She said the smoke was “quite thin” and she was able to breathe fairly easily.
She returned to her flat, 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.
She said Mr Foley attempted to find a way out, but could not find a way up or down the stairs due to the flames, and returned to their bedroom.
Miss Murphy described how she and her boyfriend escaped by climbing out of the first-floor bedroom window and down a drainpipe to safety.
She said her boyfriend went first and she was still on the phone to the emergency services as she climbed out of the window.
“I didn’t want to jump. I turned round, my back was facing Liam. I climbed out and I dropped the phone just inside the window.”
She went on to describe how she “slipped into Liam’s arms” on the ground.
When on the ground she noticed Brown taking off his jumper. She said he wrapped it around his head and tried to enter the flats, but was beaten back.
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 case was adjourned until tomorrow.
PA