Five guilty of killing teens in mistaken identity case

A man and four teenagers were found guilty yesterday of murdering two boys in a case of mistaken identity in a botched revenge attack.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, died from stab wounds after being chased by four "tooled up" teenagers on 27 January this year in Bristol.

Riley Tolliver, 18, and three boys aged 15, 16 and 17, had been driven to and from Knowle West by Antony Snook, 45, 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.

The pair were attacked shortly after leaving Mason’s home on Ilminster Avenue, Bristol Crown Court heard.

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.