THE parents of a teenage girl who escaped from a fire which killed two of her friends have spoken of their gratitude for the support they have received from the local community.

Mick Murphy and his wife Carole received a frantic phone call from their daughter Lizzie in the early hours as the fire took hold of the block of flats in Church Street, Norton.

The couple, who live in Nottingham, then had to make the two-hour drive north to comfort their 17-year-old daughter who had escaped by shinning down the drainpipe from her first floor flat.

“Lizzie was obviously distraught, having herself barely escaped with her life,” Mr Murphy said.

“She had also lost two friends with whom she had been chatting earlier that evening and had been planning a subsequent weekend in Newcastle.

“The past four days have been a roller-coaster of emotion and coming to terms with her loss. However, we hope she is on the way to recovery, although we realise it will be a long process.”

Mr Murphy added that Lizzie had been working in Norton for just over a year and shared a flat at Buckrose Court with a friend and her boyfriend Liam Foley.

Mr Foley had spent the evening playing cards with Jamie Kyne before the fire broke out.

He was also forced to leap from the burning building after the fire broke out in the early hours of Saturday, September 5.

The bodies of Jamie and fellow jockey Jan Wilson were later found in a flat on the second floor of the property.

Mr Murphy added: “So many people have helped us that we wanted to put on record our gratitude for the support offered to our daughter Lizzie and ourselves over the past few days.

He said that the family would like to thank the team at Racing Welfare, Phil and Debbie at The Union pub, Steven Kinsella at the Railway Tavern and all the locals at the Derwent Arms.

“We would also like to thank everyone at Star Farm, especially Julie Camacho, her husband Steve, and, of course the horses, the police and the people of Norton and Malton in general.

“It is a measure of the strength of the racing community and the palpable bonds of friendship that she feels her recovery is best done amongst her friends and neighbours here.”

Mr Murphy added: “It will take her time to come to terms with the death of Jan and Jamie, but we feel that Norton is the best place for that healing to take place.”