A LABOURER HAS been sentenced to at least seven and a half years in prison for killing two promising young jockeys – one from Galway – who died when he torched a flat in a drunken revenge attack.

Peter Brown started a fire after being refused entry to a party at flats in Norton, North Yorkshire, England, in September last year.

The fire caused the deaths of Jamie Kyne, 18, from Kiltrogue, and Jan Wilson, 19, from Forfar, Scotland.

The 37-year-old Brown was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter this year.

He was given an indeterminate sentence by a judge at Leeds Crown Court, according to PA.

A court previously heard that Brown, a labourer originally from the Aberdeen area, started the fire when he lit rubbish in the communal entrance to the Buckrose Court flats on 5 September.

The BBC reported at the time that Brown, who lived in a neighbouring block and was a former caretaker for the complex, had started the fire in revenge for being refused entry to a party at one of the flats.

He had used white spirit to set light to rubbish in the stairwell after he returned from drinking in local pubs in the early hours.

The occupants were forced to jump from the building or climb down drainpipes but the two young jockeys were trapped in the top-floor flat and unable to escape.