THE owner of a block of flats where two young jockeys died in an arson attack has admitted failing to take reasonable fire precautions at the premises.

Landlord Alan Foster, 65, was expected to stand trial later this year following the blaze in September 2009 which killed Jamie Kyne, 18, and Jan Wilson, 19, at Buckrose Court, Norton.

However, at a pre-trial hearing at Leeds Crown Court, yesterday, Foster pleaded guilty to four out of nine charges against him.

Sailesh Mehta, prosecuting, told the court that was acceptable and the other charges would be left to lie on file in due course.

Foster of Buckrose Court, Norton, admitted two charges relating to Flats 1-9 at The Tannery, Buckrose Court, where the blaze happened.

The first related to failing to take reasonable fire precautions between March 5, 2009 and September 6, 2009 in that he failed to ensure the premises were safe, such failure placing the persons at risk of death or serious injury in case of fire.

Secondly he admitted failing to make a risk assessment at the premises between the same dates.

Foster denied three further charges relating to the flats in that he failed to ensure in the event of danger that people could be evacuated as quickly and as safely as possible, that he failed to establish the appropriate procedure to be followed in the event of imminent and serious danger, and failed to ensure a suitable system of maintenance for the detection and alarm systems, emergency lighting system and the automatic smoke ventilator system.

He also pleaded guilty to two charges relating to a neighbouring block of flats at 1-12 Buckrose House, in Commercial Street, that he failed to take reasonable fire precautions at those premises and failed to make a suitable and sufficient risk assessment on August 18, 2011, He denied two earlier similar charges relating to those premises between September 4, 2009 and November 13, 2009.

Mr Mehta told the court the first charge relating to the Tannery flats “is an overall count which includes all the mischief in counts three to five.”

He said the remaining counts relating to Buckrose House involved “two separate occasions when fire officers attended shortly after the fire and on a subsequent date in 2011.”

It was agreed when he opened the case that he could cover the earlier visit as well.

Sentence was adjourned and Foster was bailed after his counsel Philip Standfast said he wanted to prepare a mitigation bundle for the court.

Judge Geoffrey Marson QC warned Foster: “In adjourning your sentence and granting you bail that is no indication of the likely sentence, all options remain open.”

Jamie Kyne from Co Galway and Jan Wilson from Forfar Scotland were trapped on the top floor when labourer Peter Brown started a blaze after being refused entry to a party in another flat.

Brown was subsequently convicted of manslaughter and ordered to serve a minimum of seven and-a-half years under an indeterminate sentence for public protection.