Trial starts of group accused of helping murderers

Mason Rist, 15, (left) and Max Dixon, 16, were killed in a case of mistaken identity

Five people have gone on trial accused of helping a trio of teenagers in the hours after they had been involved in a double murder.

In 2024 Riley Tolliver, 18, and Kodi Westcott, 17, Anthony Snook, 44 - along with two other teenagers who cannot be named for legal reasons - were convicted of killing Mason Rist and Max Dixon in Bristol.

Ellie Maddocks and Dominic Smith, from Westbury-on-Trym, Marcus Williams and Jillian Tolliver, from Hartcliffe, and Kristian Hooper, from Weston-super-Mare, all deny assisting three of the teenage offenders.

The prosecution claims the group helped the trio by taking them out of the area after the fatal attack.

Kodishai Westcott, 17 (left) and Riley Tolliver, 18, were found guilty of the murders

Mason, 15, and Max, 16, were stabbed to death with machetes just yards from Mason's front door in Knowle West on 27 January, in a case of mistaken identity.

The pair had been wrongly identified as being the masked youths who had thrown bricks at a house in the Hartcliffe area of the city earlier that evening.

Ms Maddocks and Mr Smith, of Llewellyn Court Westbury on Trym, are charged with two counts of assisting Kodi Westcott, and a 16-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons, after the murders.

They allegedly allowed Westcott and the other boy to stay at their home after the fatal attack, and then drove them to an address in Weston-super-Mare.

Riley Tolliver's parents - Ms Tolliver and Mr Hooper - have also been charged with assisting Tolliver after allegedly taking him to stay at his grandmother's house in Weston-super-Mare.

Mr Williams is charged with helping Tolliver by driving him to the coastal Somerset town.

At the opening of the trial at Bristol Crown Court on Monday, James Haskell for the prosecution said the case against the five defendants is that they intentionally impeded the arrest of Tolliver, Westcott and the unnamed 16-year-old, by taking them out of Bristol.

The evidence against the group will include mobile phone conversations and GPS signal data, Mr Haskell added.

A huge police operation was launched after the double murder

After the murders, Antony Snook, 45, was jailed for life at Bristol Crown Court in November 2024, while Tolliver, 18, Westcott, 17, and two teenagers, aged 15 and 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were sentenced in December last year.

Tolliver and Westcott were each detained for a minimum of 23 years, while the 15-year-old and 16-year-old were detained for life with minimum terms of 15 and 18 years respectively.

During the hearing on Monday, the court was told Ms Tolliver, who is on bail, was not fit to stand trial due to her mental health.