THE fire that killed two young jockeys in Norton was started deliberately and spread rapidly, a forensic scientist told a jury today.

Jeffrey Gray claimed an “awful lot” of flammable material was stored in the hallway in Buckrose Court where the blaze started and that the “dog-leg” staircase design used in the building would have produced a chimney effect that sent the fire up to the top floor. He alleged a cardboard sample taken from debris after the fire had white spirit on it, but he couldn’t say whether the liquid had been poured on it before the fire or landed on it during the fire.

He said: “In my view, this is a deliberately started fire with a flame.”

Mr Gray claimed the use of screws instead of nails to hold up the ceilings in Flat 5 meant they collapsed quickly. Jan Wilson, 19, and Jamie Kyne, 18, died when they were trapped in the flat during the blaze in the early hours of September 5 last year. Peter William Brown, 37, of Buckrose Court, Norton, denies five charges including two of murder and one of arson with intent to endanger life.

Mr Gray, a forensic chemist and fire analyst from Wetherby, claimed in cross-examination he was surprised that a “dog-leg” staircase had been used in the two-storey Buckrose Court building where there was no fire escape.

He alleged it was unlikely the fire had been a slow smouldering one that then got stronger and started flaming because of the lack of burn markings on the hallway floor.

Earlier the jury heard police interviews in which Brown said he had taken a “line” of cocaine before going out to three pubs on the night of the fire. He had had several whiskies and beers but claimed he wasn’t drunk.

The trial continues.