A labourer was found guilty today of killing two young jockeys – including an Irish teenager - by setting light to a block of flats in Yorkshirte in a drunken revenge attack.
Peter Brown (37), started a fire at Buckrose Court in Norton, North Yorkshire, which killed Jamie Kyne (18), from Kiltrogue, Co Galway, and Jan Wilson (19), from Forfar, Scotland on September 5th, 2009.
A jury at Leeds Crown Court heard drunken Brown, who is originally from the Aberdeen area of Scotland, torched the complex as an act of revenge after he was refused entry to a party in one of the flats last September.
Today he was cleared by the jury of murder but found guilty of manslaughter.
Brown was also aquitted of arson with intent to endanger life.
The jury of six men and six women took 13 hours to reach their verdicts.
The jury heard that Brown - who had a long-standing alcohol problem - worked as a caretaker in the flats complex and had a prickly relationship with the women who lived in the flat where the party was taking place.
The two jockeys slept on the floor above where the party had been.
The jury was told that a drunken Brown used white spirit to set light to rubbish in the stairwell after he returned from a drinking session in local pubs in the early hours of the morning.
The fire quickly took hold in the early hours of September 5th as the stairwell acted like a chimney.
Residents had to jump for their lives from windows or climb down drainpipes to escape.
The two jockeys were trapped at the top of the building. Mr Kyne lived in the flat with fellow jockey Ian Brennan. Ms Wilson was Mr Brennan's girlfriend and had been staying over.
Father-of-one Brown did not give evidence in his trial.
Mrs Justice Nicola Davies adjourned sentence for the completion of a pre-sentence. She thanked the jury and the victim’s relatives, telling the families of the two jockeys. “You have attended every day, my thanks to you for the dignity you have shown," she said.