Five people have been convicted of murdering teenagers Mason Rist and Max Dixon who were attacked with machetes in a case of mistaken identity.
Riley Tolliver, 18, a 16-year-old boy, a 17-year-old boy and getaway driver Antony Snook, 45, were found guilty of the murders of Mason and Max by a jury of nine men and three women at Bristol Crown Court after a six-week trial.
A 15-year-old boy was also found guilty of the murder of Dixon after previously pleading guilty to the murder of Rist.
Speaking after the verdicts senior investigating officer at Avon and Somerset Police Detective Superintendent Gary Haskins, said Max and Mason had been going for a pizza when they were fatally attacked in a case of mistaken identity.
DS Haskins told reporters: “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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Mason Rist and Max Dixon
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Court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook of Antony Snook (right) sitting beside Riley Tolliver, 18, and teenagers aged 15, 16 and 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons
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Tributes left at the scene in Bristol
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Tolliver, and the three boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been driven to and from Knowle West by Antony Snook as part of a revenge mission.
The two boys had been wrongly identified as being responsible for bricks being thrown at a house in the rival Hartcliffe district earlier that evening.
Around an hour after that attack, Snook left the property with two of the boys and picked up the other two in a nearby street before heading to Knowle West. The Audi Q2 was driven around Knowle West for at least 12 minutes before the attack, the jury was told.
Snook 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.
Antony Snook and Riley Tolliver
Avon and Somerset Police
The coffin of 16-year-old Max Dixon is carried out of Imperial Sports Ground in Brislington following his funeral servic
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Ray Tully KC, prosecuting, told the jury: “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.”
Tolliver, who had a baseball bat, and the three teenagers armed with machetes jumped out of the car and chased after the two boys. Max and Mason are seen going to different sides of the street, each pursued by two people from the vehicle.
Tolliver and the 15-year-old boy attacked Mason, while the 16-year-old boy and 17-year-old boy chased Max. The 17-year-old boy also struck Mason, who was lying injured on the ground, as he headed back to the Audi after attacking Max.
A CCTV camera on Mason’s nearby house captured how the attack lasted just 33 seconds from the car pulling up to the teenagers getting back in and leaving. Mason and Max sustained fatal stab injuries, and both died in hospital in the early hours of January 28.
Mason Rist with his grandmother, Gail
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Snook drove the teenagers from the scene and dropped them off in Knowle West. A fire was lit in a back garden and items linked to the attack disposed of. Meanwhile, the 16-year-old boy picked up a McDonald’s meal and drinks just six hours after the attack.
Giving evidence, Snook claimed he thought he was driving the teenagers in his Audi Q2 disability car to a “safe house” after the attack on the Hartcliffe property.
When he was told to stop in Ilminster Avenue he believed they were outside the safe house, Snook alleged. The landscape gardener, who lost a leg in a road accident, insisted he did not know the boys were carrying weapons and was looking in his rear view mirror at the time Max and Mason were attacked.
“I thought they had got into a fight or something. I didn’t want to be involved with it. I didn’t think it was something that cost two people their lives…I just thought it was something stupid between Hartcliffe and Knowle that I had been dragged into. I didn’t realise anyone had been seriously hurt.”
The four teenagers did not give evidence during the trial.
Body worn footage of the arrest of photo issued by Avon and Somerset Police of Riley Tolliver
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The jury was told the 16-year-old had been covertly recorded in custody saying he had heard Mason screaming during the attack and “had to sort of join in”.
He also said he had put on “loads more tracksuits” and left his phone behind before heading to Knowle West. In closing speeches to the jury, barristers representing the teenagers said there was no joint plan to attack the two boys.
Anna Vigars KC, representing the 16-year-old, suggested her client did not have any intention to kill or cause really serious harm to Max or Mason.
“He didn’t spring into action – he gets left behind. He didn’t know what the plan was, if there was a plan” Vigars said, adding: “It isn’t just that his heart was not in it, but his intention was not either.”
Christopher Quinlan KC, representing the 17-year-old, said his client had admitted the manslaughter of Max but denied inflicting any injury to Mason. The jury were shown the CCTV footage of Mason, after being struck by the 15-year-old, getting to his feet, with prosecutors then alleging the 17-year-old inflicted a second blow to him
Bristol Crown court and Law Courts Small Street Bristol Avon
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However, Quinlan suggested an alternative, telling jurors: “He had managed to get to his feet but because of the injury he sustained he wasn’t able to stand, as the 17-year-old passes him.
“We say when you divorce Mason’s movements from the 17-year-old then the evidence is not there that he did stab him or make contact with him.”
Ignatius Hughes KC, representing Riley Tolliver, said his client had not struck Mason with a “sword, machete or zombie knife”.
“A baseball bat is a very different choice of weapon to go out with than a great big zombie knife,” he said.
“He had an opportunity to cause really serious injury to Mason, but he didn’t do it.”
Kate Brunner KC, representing the 15-year-old, told the court he was not involved in the fatal attack on Max because it happened at the same time he was murdering Mason, saying: “He has told you the terrible thing that he did. He was 14 when he stabbed Mason…He says that he did that, he’s been honest with this court and with you by saying guilty.”
