Tributes to jockeys after Yorkshire arson attack

Published: Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:33:23

Police have bailed a man over a fire which killed two apprentice jockeys in North Yorkshire while tributes were paid to the two young victims. The bodies of Jamie Kyne, 18, and Jan Wilson, 19, were recovered by police after an arson attack on an apartment block in Norton, near Malton on Saturday. Mr Kyne's aunt said: "The family are devastated and Jamie was a star."

Born in County Galway, Ireland, was one of the most promising jockeys on the northern circuit and was in third place in the apprentice jockeys' championship, having raced to 29 victories in 2009. He had been booked to ride at Haydock on Saturday while Ms Wilson had been due to ride Imperial Sword, owned by her mother Margaret, at Thirsk. One apprentice jockey, Ian Brennan, jumped to safety from the third floor of the building while another man was taken to hospital following the fire and treated for minor burns and the effects of smoke inhalation, though his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

North Yorkshire police said the blaze is being treated as suspicious and have questioned and released on bail a local man in his 30s, over the fire. Racecourses at Thirsk and Kempton observed a moment of silence in tribute to the victims while jockeys at Stratford wore black armbands in remembrance. Speaking to the BBC, trainer Adrian McGuinness, from Lusk, County Dublin, said of Jamie Kyne: "He was very good, one of the best young riders about and probably one of the top apprentices in England at the moment.

"They called him the jewel of the north." And Christine Barron, who had provided lodging for Jan Wilson in North Yorkshire, commented: "She was just a very nice, very lovely girl. "She had been with us for just over a year... It is a terrible thing."

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