An apprentice jockey has relived his miraculous escape from a blaze in a North Yorkshire flat which killed his girlfriend and best friend.

Ian Brennan defied his grief over the deaths of teenage jockeys Jamie Kyne and Jan Wilson in a fire which ripped through the building in Norton, near Malton, in the early hours of Saturday to ride in three races over the weekend.

Just a day before, the 20-year-old boyfriend of Jan had escaped by “a few seconds” when he was forced to jump from the second floor of the three-storey block of flats in Church Street as it became engulfed in smoke and flames.

The bodies of Jamie, 18, from Galway in the Republic of Ireland, and Jan, 19, from the Scottish town of Forfar – who were regarded as two of the most promising young jockeys in Britain - were not recovered from the scene until yesterday, with post mortems on their deaths set to be carried out today Police forensic teams were today scouring the scene for clues, with a man, who is believed to be from Norton and in his 30s, having been arrested in connection with the fire. He has been released on conditional police bail Ian, who shared the flat in the Buckrose Court complex with Jamie and Dean Pratt, who works for trainer John Quinn’s stable, told the Racing Post: “We were all in bed when the smoke alarm went off and woke me up – I woke up with the others.

“There wasn’t that much smoke in our flat, but when we opened our door to find out what was happening, the whole place quickly filled with thick, black smoke.

“Within a matter of seconds, you could barely breathe and you couldn’t see – you lost your bearings. A few more seconds and you wouldn’t have been able to breathe at all.

“I got to one window and Dean got to another, and I think Jan was with him. He jumped out head first. I was a bit luckier – I went feet first and somebody half caught me and broke my fall.

“I don’t know where the fire started, but I know it was not in our flat. It was smoke which was coming from underneath us and we were just lucky that the smoke alarm went off.

“Me and Dean were taken to York Hospital. I was fine – they did various tests on me and they were OK. Dean broke a lot of teeth and hurt his mouth, his shoulder and foot, but at least he’s still here.”

Ian was today due to ride Celtic Carisma in the 5.30 race at Newcastle following his two races at York yesterday and one at Thirsk on Saturday, and said: “I got back to the yard and felt I should carry on – it was my way of dealing with it.

“I felt OK to do that. I felt I had to ride.”

A Norton resident who lives near the block of flats where the blaze broke out said he had seen a man named locally as Peter Brown leading a rescue attempt.

“He was trying to kick the door in and get into the stairwell, but the fire just beat him back,” said Andrew Colgan, 30.

“He put a towel over his head trying to get into the stairs, but the police dragged him back. Everybody realised there were still two people inside, but nobody could get through the door.”

People living nearby have also said four or five of the flats’ residents had gone out on Friday night to celebrate receiving their “pool winnings” from one of the local racehorse trainers.

Buckrose Court – which was built on the site on an old tannery – is believed to have been split into around 16 separate flats, with around six people thought to have been inside the complex at the time the fire started.