Upstairs neighbour Ricci Foreman (19), said he had been watching TV and gone to bed in the early hours of April 25. He heard a boom, followed three seconds later by an even louder boom and the sound of breaking glass.

Dressed only in tracksuit bottoms, he ran downstairs where the sound of the explosions came from.

He told the court he was confronted by a jammed front door at the flat where Blackburn and Jessica McCagh lived.

“I pushed the door and it opened 20 or 30 centimetres and wouldn’t move any more.

“I kicked it about four or five times — it was the kitchen bin behind the main door.”

Solicitor General Frank Mulholland QC asked if he could hear anything when he was kicking the door.

“Yes — Jessica McCagh screaming.”

He was asked if there was smoke once he got the door open.

“I wasn’t aware of smoke until I got into the actual flat itself,” he said.

He estimated it took 20 seconds before he could get in, using his shoulder to force the door sufficiently open.

“As I fell in, Stewart Blackburn ran past me. He ran out of the bedroom into the hall and past me.

“He was shouting, ‘Jessica’s dead, Jessica’s dead’, and sprinting out the front door.”

Mr Foreman said Blackburn was wearing tracksuit bottoms and the back of the legs, from the calf upwards, were on fire as he ran past.

As he looked into the flat it took about 30 seconds for the whole place to fill with smoke.

When the accused went past him and pushed through the front door, it closed behind him.

Mr Mulholland asked what happened next.

“I stood there and looked at flames billowing out of the bedroom, out past the door onto the ceiling.

“I could still hear Jessica screaming from the bedroom.

“The whole house was orange from the colour of the flames.

“I was standing in the hallway as Jessica came out, her arms across her face, shouting ‘help me, Ricci, help me.’

“She was covered from head to toe in flames and wrapped in a white duvet cover.

“It melted to her as her face melted off,” Mr Foreman told the court.

He described her coming towards him before slumping to the ground in the hallway, close to the front door.

He said he ran into the kitchen scooping dishes into the sink thinking it would fill quicker and overflow when he turned on the taps.

“I grabbed the fish tank from inside the kitchen and threw it over Jessica when she fell to the ground,” he said, adding all that was in his mind at that time was water.

He continued, “She went out but then the flames relighted.

“I filled the fish tank another three or four times and kept throwing it on her.”

He said the heat was, “unbearable, real hot sticky heat”.

Mr Mulholland asked if Jessica was still standing.

Mr Foreman told the court, “She was crouched against the door frame, flames covering her, they engulfed her.”

He said each time he filled the fish tank he poured the entire contents over Jessica but each time the fire restarted.

“After the fourth or fifth time I thought this isn’t working. Jessica crawled behind the front door jamming the door closed.

“My thought was to get out and get Jessica out of the fire.

“I pulled the handle of the front door but it was red hot.

“Eventually I grabbed the handle and got it open about three millimetres.

“I could get it open a wee bit but Jessica was blocking the door,” he said.

“I grabbed hold of Jessica’s legs. When I pulled her the skin came off.”

With the door open a little he shouted for help and a friend started pushing from the outside.

It was opened enough to allow him to squeeze through and he saw there was a police officer outside the door helping.

He grabbed Jessica’s legs again to pull and the police officer took over.

He said his next thought was to warn an upstairs neighbour about the fire and made his way up through the smoke-filled close to their door.

He remembered banging on the door but then thought he had fainted and when he came to he was inside the neighbour’s house.

Fire brigade officers put a ladder against the window and they managed to leave the flat that way.

Mr Mulholland asked if he could remember seeing Jessica’s father during his attempts to save her.

He said he could not but did remember looking out the upstairs neighbour’s window and seeing some of Jessica’s family, her mother, and others outside.

The solicitor general asked if he was injured as a result of his attempts to help his friend.

He told the court, “I had burn marks on my arms and burns on my hands.

“My trackies melted and the bottom of my feet were really swollen.”

He was asked if he had seen Stewart Blackburn outside and told the court accused was in the back seat of a police car in handcuffs.

He recalled seeing Jessica McCagh sitting outside and being put in an ambulance.

Stewart Blackburn was put in an ambulance and he was told by a police officer to go in the same ambulance with him to Ninewells Hospital.

Asked about the accused on the journey, he said, “He was upset. He was asking what had happened, seeing the dogs were dead.

“I can’t remember the conversation. I can only remember part of it.”

The trial continues.