A LABOURER who started the fire which killed two promising teenage jockeys in a North Yorkshire town has lost an appeal against his conviction.

Peter William Brown, 38, was jailed indefinitely last December after being found guilty of the manslaughter of Jamie Kyne and Jan Wilson when flames tore through a block of flats in Norton in September 2009.

His lawyers attempted to overturn the conviction at the Appeal Court yesterday by claiming his trial at Leeds Crown Court was unfair because the evidence did not rule out the possibility of the fire starting accidentally.

But three senior judges ruled the jury was entitled to find Brown, of Brotherton, near Selby, guilty, and he will now remain behind bars for at least seven-and-a-half years before he will have a chance to apply for parole.

His trial heard the arson attack at Buckrose Court which killed Mr Kyne, 18, from County Galway in the Republic of Ireland, and 19-year-old Miss Wilson, from Forfar in Scotland, was an act of revenge by Brown after he had been refused entry to a party in the flats, where he acted as the caretaker.

The jury was also told he lit the fire at a point in the stairway which he knew was the only exit from the building, with his aim being to “scare, frighten or smoke out” those inside.

He had downed lager, whisky and Guinness and snorted a line of cocaine before starting the blaze.

Jailing Brown, Mrs Justice Nicola Davies branded him “a dangerous man” whose “impulsive or vengeful behaviour” meant he posed a “significant” risk to others.

Police subsequently criticised his decision not to give evidence at the trial, saying it meant the families of the jockeys still had questions about what happened the night they died.

Brown’s legal team yesterday argued the trial was prejudiced by evidence given by tenants about his character, but Lord Justice Pitchford, sitting with Mr Justice Treacy and Judge Stephen Kramer QC, rejected the arguments.

“These are all matters which were rightly considered by the jury in reaching their judgement,” he said.

“We see no reason to doubt the safety of these convictions and the appeal is dismissed.”