Sister of boy stabbed to loss of life by gang in Bristol mistaken id revenge assault holds his ashes and says ‘that is all I’ve left’ as she confronts his killers in court docket
The devastated sister of a teenager brutally murdered in a case of mistaken identity confronted his killers while holding up his ashes and hair in court, before emotively telling them ‘this is all I have left of him’.
Chloe Rist read out her heartbreaking victim impact statement to four teenagers who have been jailed for life after they savagely hacked to death her brother Mason, 15 and his best friend Max Dixon, 16.
They had momentarily left Mason’s home to get a pizza a few streets away, in January this year.
The child killers had been on a ‘blood thirsty revenge mission’ after an earlier attack on one of the group’s home when they ambushed ‘innocent’ Max and Mason, stabbing them to death in a ruthless 33-second onslaught.
Today the attackers – now aged 15 and 16 – along with 18-year-old Riley Tolliver and 17-year-old Kodishai Westcott – were jailed for life. Their getaway driver Antony Snook, 45, was previously caged for life for his involvement in the murder.
Ms Rist described how Mason had been diagnosed with autism at the age of three, which meant the family were protective of the ‘vulnerable and harmless’ youngster.
She said his heart-wrenching death had caused a ‘ripple effect’ on the family, including her grandmother suffering a heart attack and her baby being born prematurely.
Holding up packets containing Mason’s ashes and hair, as well as a print taken of his hand after his death, Ms Rist told the defendants: ‘This is Mason’s ashes and this is what you’ve done.
Chloe Rist confronted four teenagers who savagely hacked to death her brother Mason, 15 and his best friend Max Dixon, 16 while holding up Mason’s ashes and hair in court, before emotively telling them ‘this is all I have left of him’. Pictured: Chloe Rist with Mason
‘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 genuine, but unfortunately I can’t be sure.
‘I hope you don’t forget Mason because he didn’t deserve any of this.’
The defendants remained expressionless in the dock as Ms Rist showed them the items.
Her stirring confrontation came as Max’s grieving mother, Leanne Ekland, revealed the moment she sat with her son as he bled to death in the street.
‘Me and my partner Trevor, we were up in bed,’ she told Sky News, describing the night of the murders. ‘Max was at home, in his bedroom on his PlayStation and we didn’t think anything of it.
Leanne Ekland, whose son Max Dixon was murdered by a gang of teenagers, has told of the harrowing moment she found her boy dying in the street after being fatal stabbed
Max is pictured with his mother, Leanne. She said his death had left the family crushed
Max Dixon, 16, (left) and Mason Rist, 15, went to nursery, primary and secondary school together and enjoyed gaming together on the PlayStation. They were both brutally killed in a case of mistaken identity
‘Next minute a car pulled up outside my house and was shouting at my window – ‘Max has been stabbed’ – and I said: ‘No he’s not, he’s in bed’.’
Leanne rushed to Ilminster Avenue in the Knowle West area of the city, with paramedics allowing her to sit with her son as he died.
‘It was just such a panic, I don’t know what I was thinking, I was sat down on the floor and the paramedics were cutting his clothes,’ she said.
‘They must have been petrified. They were just going to get some food… They’ve done nothing wrong.’
She also told how the murderous teenage tearaways had ‘taken her heart’ and ‘don’t understand the impact’ they have caused.
‘I now need to repair my life without him,’ she added. ‘Everyone says it will get better but I don’t think it will. Because he was a massive part of my family and I don’t want to move on.
‘He was the glue of our family and to think I’ve got to move on without him is hard. They need to understand that – they destroyed me.’
Today, Judge Mrs Justice May said Max and Mason were ‘completely innocent parties’ and were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
CCTV footage shown to the jury captured the gang of five men getting out of a car holding machetes before setting on the fleeing teenagers in a frenzied attack lasting just 33 seconds
Video of the attack released by police after the five attackers were convicted
Max, 16, and Mason, 15, had been firm friends since the tender age of five
Pictures is one of the knives recovered by police used during the brutal attack
Wescott, who can be named for the first time after a judge lifted a Section 45 order, was told he would serve a minimum of 23 years and 44 days. Tolliver was jailed for a minimum of 23 years and 47 days.
The 15-year-old boy was told he would serve at least 15 years and 229 days, while the 16-year-old was given a minimum term of 18 years and 44 days.
‘You were part of a group who attacked and killed two boys,’ the judge told the defendants.
‘The boys you killed were Mason Rist and Max Dixon. They were your age. They had done nothing wrong. They didn’t attack the house, they had nothing to do with it.
‘You have heard how much pain you have caused to their families.
‘Max and Mason’s families must go on without them in a different way. Your lives will change too. As Mason’s sister said, there are no winners here.’
Mason (left), pictured with his mother, Nikki, and a young cousin, was described as an innocent lad who was ‘bubbly’ and ‘wouldn’t hurt a fly’
Anthony Snook (right), 45, and Riley Tolliver (second right), 18, and three teenagers aged 15, 16 and 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have been convicted of the murders
Previously, the court heard how Snook and the armed teenagers set out for ‘blood-thirsty’ revenge after masked youths wielding machetes threw bricks at a property in the Hartcliffe area, injuring a woman.
The four teenagers then ‘tooled themselves up’ and were driven by Snook to the neighbouring Bristol suburb of Knowle looking for those responsible.
Armed with a machete, zombie knife and baseball bat, they leapt out of the vehicle to attack Mason and Max as they headed out to buy pizza.
They were then stabbed after being wrongly identified during a chilling 33-second attack caught on camera and both died later in separate hospitals.
After the savage onslaught had finished, the teenage thugs returned to Snook’s Audi Q2 motability car before fleeing the scene.
They were both pronounced dead in hospital in the early hours of January 28.
On Thursday, Anna Vigars KC, representing the 16-year-old defendant, said his IQ is on the second percentile and he has clinical indicators for mental health disorders.
Ms Vigars said: ‘As well as what was going on within his home, he has faced community tensions from before an age of knowing better. Rivalries between areas of Bristol which he was born into.
Mugshots of Riley Tolliver and Anthony Snook – released by police following their sentencing
‘He was simply, by virtue of where he was born, an inheritor of some appalling division and rivalry between our city.’
On Monday, barristers for Tolliver and the 15-year-old boy relayed apologies to the families of Max and Mason at Bristol Crown Court.
Ignatius Hughes KC, representing Tolliver, described how his client had only started to read and write since being remanded into custody.
Mr Hughes said Tolliver had written a short letter addressed to the judge and families of Max and Mason.
Printed and in a mix of capitals and lower case, Tolliver wrote: ‘To judge and families, I just started to learn to read and write. I would like to say how deeply sorry I am.
‘I should have never got into that car. I am sorry for the pain and sorrow, and I will carry this for the rest of my life.
‘Deepest sorrow, Riley Tolliver.’
Kate Brunner KC, representing the 15-year-old defendant, also told the court: ‘He is sorry beyond words for what he has done.
Mason and Max sustained ‘unsurvivable’ stab injuries and died in hospital on January 28
‘He has written to the court, and it is a genuine expression of how he feels.
‘The letter was written with the help of a support worker because he could not have done it on his own.’
She said the boy was ‘indoctrinated into a horrifying reality where children were regularly armed with ferocious weapons’ rather than receiving a normal upbringing.
Psychiatrists found the 15-year-old had a mental age of eight-and-a-half, and lacked the skills to make rational choices and understand the consequences of his actions, Ms Brunner added.
Christopher Quinlan KC, representing the 17-year-old, described his client’s upbringing as ‘bleak and desolate’ and said he had suffered from ‘malign influences’.
‘The one thing he lacked was structure, care and love,’ Mr Quinlan said.
He added that the teenager ‘thinks about the harm he’s caused the families every day’.
On Tuesday, Jamie Ogbourne, 27, of Hartcliffe, and Bailey Westcott, 23, of Whitchurch, were both jailed for five years and three months for helping the teenagers after they committed the murders.
Mourners at Mason’s funeral turned out in Liverpool FC shirts for the devoted fan of the club
Ogbourne and Westcott, who previously pleaded guilty to charges of assisting an offender, were sentenced at Bristol Crown Court by Mrs Justice May.
The court heard how the pair helped to clean weapons used in the fatal attack.
Westcott lit a fire to dispose of items linked to the attack, while Ogbourne arranged taxis and a change of clothing for two of the teenage murderers.
