Mum relives horror of her teenage son's fatal stabbing

The grieving mother of a teenage boy has described the harrowing moment her son died in her arms after a brutal knife attack near their home in Bristol.

- ALEX ROSS

Riley Tolliver, 18, Kodishai Wescott, 17, and two other teenagers have been sentenced for the murder of Max Dixon and his best friend Mason Rist, who were stabbed and left to die in the street in the Knowle West area of the city. Tolliver and Wescott received life sentences, while the two teenagers were detained for life.

Speaking before the hearing at Bristol Crown Court yesterday, Leanne Ekland told how she believed her 16-year-old son Max was in his bedroom playing on his PlayStation before a friend pulled up outside their home, shouting he had been stabbed.

It later emerged that Max had slipped out to meet his friend Mason, 15, to get some food – before the pair were savagely attacked with machetes in a chilling case of mistaken identity.

The friends, who had been close since nursery, had been hunted down by Antony Snook, 45, and the four teenagers after a brick was thrown at a house in a rival area of Bristol.

Recalling the moments her world was turned upside down, Leanne said: “I was up in bed. Max was at home in his bedroom on the PlayStation and we just didn’t think anything of it. Next minute, a car pulled up outside the house and [there] was shouting up at windows, saying Max had been stabbed.

“I said: ‘No, he’s not – he’s in bed.’” But, on being driven to the scene, the brutal nature of the situation quickly became clear to Leanne.