Five guilty of Bristol machete murder of teens Mason Rist and Max Dixon in mistaken identity horror

Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, died from stab wounds after being chased by four armed teenagers on January 27 this year in the Knowle West area of Bristol

Four teenagers and a 45-year-old man have been convicted at Bristol Crown Court of murdering Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, who were attacked with machetes in a case of mistaken identity.

The teens, from Bristol, tragically died after they were stabbed to death after leaving Mason's home on Ilminster Avenue in the Knowle West area shortly after 11pm on January 27.

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 Max after previously pleading guilty to the murder of Mason.

Tolliver, and the three boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been driven to and from Knowle West by Antony Snook, 45, 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.

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.

Footage played in court during the trial, showed four teenage boys armed with some what the prosecution described as "some pretty fearsome weapons" as they drove past them in an Audi Q2 car. Bristol Crown Court heard how the group believed that Mason and Max had hurled bricks at a house in the Hartcliffe area earlier that evening. The four teens reportedly hopped out of the vehicle and knifed them.

The boys died in hospital in the early hours of the morning after the 33-second attack.