Man jailed for role in Max Dixon and Mason Rist murders

A man who drove four teenagers on a revenge mission that led to two best friends being murdered has been handed two life sentences.

Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, died after being stabbed by four teenagers in a frenzied attack outside Mason’s home on Ilminster Avenue in Knowle West, Bristol, on 27 January.

Antony Snook, 45, tried to claim he was oblivious to the plan, but a jury rejected this defence and found him guilty of the murders.

Riley Tolliver, 18, and three boys, 17, 16 and 15, were also found guilty of murder and will be sentenced on 16 December.

Snook will serve a minimum of 38 years in jail.

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

Max and Mason were wrongly identified as being responsible for bricks being thrown at a house in the Hartcliffe area earlier that evening.

CCTV cameras outside Mason’s home captured Snook’s Audi Q2 pulling onto Ilminster Avenue, where the four youngest defendants then jumped out, wielding large machetes.

The friends were ambushed in an attack that lasted just 33 seconds, while Snook sat waiting in his parked car with the lights off.

The teenagers then got back into Snook’s car, which performed a U-turn in the street and sped away, leaving the boys collapsed in the street.

The friends died in hospital within 15 minutes of each other in the early hours of Sunday morning.