A GANG of teens who chased down and murdered two pals in a horrific case of mistaken identity have been jailed.
Max Dixon, 16, and Mason Rist, 15, had popped out to buy pizza when they were unwittingly embroiled in a “postcode rivalry” in the Bristol suburb of Knowle.
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Their killers had wrongly identified them as the culprits of an earlier attack – leading them to “tool up” with an arsenal of “fearsome weapons”.
Chilling CCTV then showed the gang chasing down Max and Mason as they innocently walked down the street together.
Riley Tolliver, 18, and three teenage boys aged 15, 16 and 17, have today been jailed after being found guilty of murder.
The oldest defendants were caged for life, while the 15-year-old was handed 15 years and 229 days in prison and the 16-year-old received an 18 year and 44 day jail term.
Antony Snook, 45, who led a bloodthirsty hunt for the attackers in his flashy Audi through the dark streets of Bristol, was previously jailed for life with a minimum of 38 years for murder.
Mason’s sister Chloe brought his ashes, hair and handprint to show his killers in a powerful victim impact statement.
She said: “This is Mason’s ashes and this is what you’ve done. If anyone is upset about me bringing them to court today, that is all I have left of him.
“I shouldn’t have to look at my brother’s bone fragments either. I also have a piece of his hair which has his blood on it, if you want to see it?
“This is my dead brother’s handprint. Another thing you’ve done. I should be able to hold my brother’s hand, not look at it on a piece of paper. This is all I have left of him.
“I hope your sorrys are genuinely but unfortunately I can’t be sure.
“I hope you don’t forget Mason because he didn’t deserve any of this.”
While Max’s sister told the teens how they had “killed me that day” and is now facing a “life-time of torture”.
Kayleigh added: “You ripped out my heart and soul. It’s broken and unfixable.
“I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I can’t function, all I see in my mind is my lifeless brother’s body, I can feel how cold his hands were and how stiff his body was. His soul disappearing from his brown eyes.”
Bristol Crown Court heard the horror unfolded on January 27 amid a postcode “rivalry” between the Knowle West and Hartcliffe areas of Bristol.
Around an hour before Max and Mason died, a house in Hartcliffe had been attacked by masked youngsters hurling bricks through a window and injuring a woman.
At 11pm, Snook, Tolliver and the three teen defendants left the area armed with their stash of weapons.
Snook then drove them from Hartcliffe to Knowle West “on the hunt” for the people they believed were responsible for the attack.
Ray Tully KC, prosecuting, said: “As they drove past Max and Mason walking down the street, they thought they had spotted the people responsible for the earlier attack – or at the very least, people connected to it.
“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.”
The gang jumped out of the Audi and gave chase to the innocent teens, who had popped out to buy pizza.
Both pals attempted to run back towards Mason’s home nearby but were separated during the hunt.
Footage showed the gang speeding off in Snook’s Audi following the 33 second slaughter as Max and Mason were left dying on the street.
Tolliver and the 15-year-old boy attacked Mason, while the 16-year-old boy and 17-year-old boy chased Max.
Mason was knifed once in the back and chest – causing “unsurvivable injuries” – while his best friend was stabbed once in the abdomen.
They tragically died within 15 minutes of each other after being rushed to hospital.
Mason and Max’s devastated family’s pay tribute
Max’s mum Leanne Ekland said: “The night of 27th January became the worst night of my life. Max was my only son; he was also the youngest of four. The death of my son has impacted my life in such a way that it will never be the same.
“That night I heard a car pull up outside my house and I heard my name, and the words ‘Max has been stabbed’, I initially thought this was a wind up as at this time I thought my son was in bed, I then realised that this wasn’t a joke, I was screaming and begging the boys to take me to my son.
“When I got there, I can just remember screaming let me see my son and people around me, stopping me, I can remember finally sitting on the ground with Max’s head between my legs, telling him I was there and to open his eyes, I remember him looking at me and his eyes closing, he said he just wanted to sleep. It was so frantic as the paramedics were working on him, cutting away at his clothes, he was so pale. I remember being taken to Southmead hospital by a police officer on my own, no one there with me,” she added.
“When I arrived, my daughter Kayleigh and Max’s dad were waiting. We were taken to a room. Not long after someone came in to tell us we are sorry, I didn’t even let them finish.
“Max was a 16-year-old boy exploring and figuring out what he wanted to do in life. Max was a big character with a happy and joyful look on life, he was funny, kind and caring. He was a huge part of the family and was very popular among his friends. We were very close; he was my boy.”
In a statement read by the prosecution, Nikki Knight, Mason’s mum said she felt “frightened” and would “never feel safe” in her own home again with the murder scene right outside.
She added: “As a mother I feel I failed to protect my son. That is a thought that will stay with me.”
Nikki also said she can no longer go into his bedroom as it “hits me all over again that he has gone.”
Speaking after the verdicts, Detective Superintendent Gary Haskins, senior investigating officer at Avon and Somerset Police, said Max and Mason had been going for a pizza when they were fatally attacked in a case of mistaken identity.
He added: “They are beautiful boys, going about their business, in their own community when they were senselessly attacked by the individuals for no reason.
“What we know is that they passed Max when he was walking towards Mason’s house. Then Mason walks out of his house and joins Max.
“The vehicle is passing, they think ‘that’s them, they will do’. They were hunting around Knowle to find people.
“We know they had driven around Knowle two-and-a-half times before they came across these two boys.”
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