How boys’ mistaken identity murders broke hearts

Teenage best friends Mason Rist and Max Dixon died after a brutal attack that lasted 33 seconds – killed in a case of mistaken identity, yards from Mason’s front door. Five people – four teenagers and a 45-year-old man – have been detained for their parts in the murders.

Riley Tolliver, 18, and 17-year-old Kodishai Wescott, who was identified on Thursday for the first time after reporting restrictions were lifted during sentencing, were told they would each be detained for a minimum of 23 years.

A 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were detained for life with minimum terms of 15 and 18 years respectively.

The murders have left many shattered hearts in their wake, not least Mason’s older sister Chloe Rist, who left those in the courtroom stunned with her emotional impact statement while holding aloft her brother’s ashes and a lock of his hair.

Warning: This article contains some distressing details

A few days before we were due back in court for the sentencing hearing, Chloe told me she had a plan. But she told absolutely no-one about the actual detail.

Chloe is in the dock, when she turns to face the killers, thrusting a small plastic pouch into the air, long streaks of mascara reaching down her face, she sobs, “these are Mason’s ashes”.

Before anyone has time to compute that she’s actually holding human remains, she’s now lifting another small clear bag. In it is a tuft of Mason’s hair and she then shows everyone his handprints, made following his death.

Max and Mason were killed after being wrongly thought to be responsible for bricks thrown at a house in Hartcliffe earlier that evening on 27 January.

The four teenage defendants spotted the two best friends while being driven around Knowle West by a fifth defendant, Anthony Snook, 45, looking for “revenge”, the court previously heard.

All five were convicted of two counts of murder last month following a six-week trial at Bristol Crown Court. Snook was later jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 38 years.

During the trial, the jury was told there had been a long-standing rivalry between Knowle West and Hartcliffe, and there had previously been incidents involving people from “both postcodes”.

Chloe tells me how she had been worried court security might have mistaken his ashes for drugs.

She was also worried that if anyone got wind of her plan they might have tried to stop her.

It worked – she certainly grabbed the attention of the four teenage defendants, Riley Tolliver, Kodi Wescott, the 15 and the 16-year-old, who have been sitting behind glass for much of this trial with blank faces.

During Chloe’s account, they appear engaged and listen to her tell of the pain they’ve put the two families through.

This was a case that revolved heavily around CCTV footage. Firstly, there are the cameras at Mason’s home, which picked up almost everything.

They caught the moment Max turned up at Mason’s house, smiling as his best friend came to the door.

It’s a hard watch, seeing the pair amble out through the gate on to their street – not a care in the world – but, watching with hindsight, you know they are about to be subjected to a terrifying attack.

The attack itself lasts for little more than half a minute.

I’ve been a journalist for more than two decades, and this is the most distressing footage I’ve ever had to watch, and what is seen cannot be unseen.

Max and Mason being hunted like animals, running scared for their lives as the teenagers chase them with swords and machetes.

Mason’s mum Nikki Knight could not bring herself to watch it. Fingers in her ears, she had her head down in her lap when it was shown in court.

Nikki told me it was Mason’s dad, Shayne, who had insisted their home was covered in CCTV.

He died from Covid-19 two years earlier but she wonders if Mason’s dad somehow knew this would happen, and it was his way of ensuring the family got justice, even in his absence.

At another house, a few miles across the city, there’s more CCTV footage from earlier that same night.

At the home of Kodi Wescott – the 17-year-old ringleader – home security cameras pick up his home being pelted with bricks.

In retaliation, he gathers his older cousin, fellow defendant Tolliver, and two other teenagers, setting into motion a terrible chain of events that result in a horrific case of mistaken identity.

Those same CCTV cameras were still recording when Wescott and the 16-year-old emerged from a car, swords in hand, and shortly afterwards ran back into the house, not long after killing Max and Mason.

Wescott’s house also has cameras covering the back garden, which show his older brother, Bailey Wescott, lighting a fire and burning the boys’ clothes to try to destroy the evidence.

In the hurry to burn the clothes and hide the knives, no-one thought to turn off the cameras. The police found the footage a few days later, while still having the four boys in custody refusing to speak.

In the hours before sentencing, the defence barristers told the court about the killers’ “bleak and desolate” upbringings.

We heard the 15-year-old had been thriving since he was remanded into custody, that he now had enough food and so was growing in both height and had gained two shoe sizes.

We heard how 18-year-old Tolliver had only started to read and write since being in custody.

He had written a short letter addressed to the judge and the families saying: “I would like to say how deeply sorry I am. I should have never got into the car and I will carry this for the rest of my life.”

The judge certainly felt his remorse was genuine and was the only one of the teenagers to remain in court and listen to the judges’ sentencing remarks.

The court heard the other three teenagers were just as sorry, but their behaviour told different stories.

Wescott could be seen fist bumping the 15-year-old, who was sitting next to him and, as he left court, he turned to wave to both victims’ families.

At the end of the sentencing hearing, the judge, the honourable Mrs Justice May, thanked the defence teams who had had a difficult time representing the killers.

It was surprising, however, that Max and Mason’s families, who had sat through the trial with such dignity and restraint, were not mentioned.

Court days were kept short to make allowances for the young defendants, often shorter than a school day to ensure the teenage killers could cope.

Due to the age of the defendants, the victims’ families were not allowed in court but had to watch from the public gallery.

And so not to overwhelm the young defendants, restrictions were put on the number of victims’ family members allowed in, meaning Max’s mum was unable to sit next to her partner.

When the prison van left the court taking the boys away they could be heard inside kicking and screaming from the van driver’s video feed. They were also seen making obscene gestures.

Yet, in spite of all this, Max and Mason’s family did not react. They showed restraint and, if anything, continued to hope these boys might one day change.

Chloe’s last words to them as she held up her brother’s remains in court were: ” I hope your ‘sorrys’ are genuine, I hope you don’t forget Mason because he didn’t deserve any of this.”