Five guilty of boys' mistaken identity murders

Mason Rist, 15, (left) and Max Dixon, 16, (right) had been friends since nursery

A group of teenagers and a man have been found guilty of murdering two best friends in a case of mistaken identity.

Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, were stabbed to death yards from Mason's front door in Knowle West, Bristol, on 27 January.

Antony Snook, 45, Riley Tolliver, 18, and two boys, 17 and 16, had all denied murder.

A 15-year-old boy admitted murdering Mason but denied killing Max, however a jury at Bristol Crown Court found each member of the group guilty of both murders.

Snook will be sentenced on 19 November, with the four teenagers due to be sentenced on 16 December.

The jury of nine men and three women took 18 hours 45 minutes deliberating before returning the verdicts.

As the jury foreman returned the verdicts none of the defendants showed any reaction from the dock.

Members of Mason and Max’s families, who were sitting in the public gallery, cried as the guilty verdicts were given.

Other relatives cheered and punched the air.

Speaking outside court Leanne Ekland, Max's mum, said: "Today’s outcome doesn’t change the fact that two families go home without their boys.

“But we can now hopefully begin to process and remember them both and the happy memories both families have of Max and Mason."

Speaking to the BBC, the boys' mums said that their sons were taken from them in a way that changed their lives forever.

Mason's uncle, David Knight, said that his nephew was "so loving and caring".

He described how with his death, their family will never be complete.

“He will always be in our hearts.

"These animals took away a son, a brother, a nephew, an uncle, and a grandchild," he said.

Antony Snook, 45, and Riley Tolliver, 18, were found guilty of murdering the boys

During the trial, the court heard Max and Mason each received fatal stab wounds from two machetes.

One of the weapons used had a blade length of 42cm (16.5in), while a second was 41cm (16in).

The jury was told how Max and Mason had been wrongly identified as being responsible for throwing bricks at a house in the neighbouring Hartcliffe area earlier that evening.

The five accused had set off from Hartcliffe heading to Knowle West “hell-bent on revenge”, Ray Tully KC told the court.

Snook, from Hartcliffe, Bristol, drove down Ilminster Avenue and when they saw Mason and Max in the street they wrongly believed they had spotted those responsible for the attack.

Mr Tully added: “They were entirely wrong about that. Max and Mason had absolutely nothing to do with any earlier incident and no connection whatsoever with those events.”

Snook claimed he "didn't know" the teenagers were going to kill the boys when he drove them to the area in his Audi Q2.

Mr Tully said the four younger defendants were all armed and argued all five people were responsible for their deaths, which the jury accepted.

During the trial, the jury was shown CCTV captured from Mason’s home.

It showed the Audi slow down as it passed Max arriving at Mason’s home in Ilminster Avenue shortly after 23:00 BST on the Saturday night.

The car then drives out of frame, and Max and Mason leave the house together.

Seconds later, the same camera captures the Audi reappearing and four people jump out, chasing the boys down the road, before inflicting the fatal injuries in an attack lasting 33 seconds.

'Absolutely petrified'

Members of the community rushed to Max and Mason who collapsed in the street to try and save them before paramedics arrived.

The friends died in hospital within 15 minutes of each other in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Det Supt Gary Haskins, head of Avon and Somerset Police's major crime investigation team, said: “These were two boys going about their business just out being friends.

"They were cut down in the prime of their lives. They must have been absolutely petrified.

"They were attacked for no reason whatsoever by individuals they didn’t know.

"Unfortunately in the course of running away from their attackers they sustained injuries... so severe sadly they succumbed to those injuries. They were unsurvivable injuries."

Antony Snook was quickly arrested after the attack

Det Supt Haskins said that within 59 minutes of the attack on Max and Mason, Snook was in custody.

"He [Snook] was the adult who could have changed the course of this incident.

"He’s the one that could have stopped this from happening.”

He added: "These individuals, as a collective, went after those two boys.

“They armed themselves together, they travelled together, they travelled back from the attack together, and they were intent on causing harm to whoever they came across.”

Hours after the attack, one of the teenagers was caught on CCTV returning to a property in Hartcliffe carrying a McDonald’s meal.

“Chillingly for me, what we do know is they even stopped off at McDonald's after attacking those two boys,” Det Supt Haskins said.

“I think it speaks volumes really. Two beautiful boys lost their lives, and they went to McDonald's for an early morning breakfast.”