Two 'beautiful boys going about their business' killed in a sickening case of mistaken identity

Four teenagers and a man have been convicted of murdering two boys who were attacked with machetes in a case of mistaken identity.

Victims Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, described by police as “beautiful boys going about their business”, died from stab wounds after being chased by the four armed teenagers in Bristol on 27 January this year. Riley Tolliver, 18, a 16-year-old boy, a 17-year-old boy and getaway driver Antony Snook, 45, have now been found guilty of the murders of Mason and Max following a six-week trial at Bristol Crown Court.

A 15-year-old boy, who had previously admitted murdering Mason, was also found guilty of the murder of Max.

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Tolliver and the three boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been driven to and from the Knowle West area of the city by Snook as part of a revenge mission. The two victims 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.

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 went 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 28 January.

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, the court heard.

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 claimed.

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.

He said: “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.

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.

“They are beautiful boys, going about their business, in their own community when they were senselessly attacked by the individuals for no reason,” he said.

“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.”