A getaway driver who helped four teenagers murder two innocent boys in a machete attack has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 38 years.
Antony Snook, 45, was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court today for his role in the deaths of Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, who were killed in January this year.
The one-legged landscape gardener drove Riley Tolliver, 18, and three other teenagers armed with machetes to the Knowle West area of Bristol where they attacked the two friends.
The victims, who were best friends, were fatally stabbed in an attack outside Mason’s home on Ilminster Avenue as they went to get a late-night pizza.
Antony Snook, 45, has been jailed for life
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Mason Rist and Max DixonPAThe court heard it was a case of mistaken identity, with the boys wrongly targeted in a revenge attack.
Snook drove the teenagers to Knowle West after bricks had been thrown at a house in the rival Hartcliffe district earlier that evening.
The 45-year-old’s Audi Q2 circled the area for at least 12 minutes before spotting Mason and Max in the street. Tolliver, armed with a baseball bat, and three teenagers wielding machetes jumped out of the car to chase the boys.
CCTV footage from Mason’s house captured the brutal attack, with the teenagers splitting up to pursue their victims on different sides of the street. Tolliver and the 15-year-old attacked Mason, while the 16-year-old and 17-year-old chased Max.
The 17-year-old also struck Mason as he lay injured on the ground before returning to Snook’s waiting car. Both boys sustained fatal stab wounds and died in hospital in the early hours of January 28.
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David Knight, the uncle of Mason Rist, speaks to the media with his sister Nikki Knight, Mason’s mother, outside Bristol Crown Cour
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The coffin of 16-year-old Max Dixon is carried out of Imperial Sports Ground in Brislington
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Passing sentence, Mrs Justice May described Snook’s actions as “so weak and cowardly” and said he could have refused to take the “posse of armed teenagers” to the scene.
“You assisted the armed boys. You knew they were carrying weapons,” she told him. “With knives in their hands and revenge in their minds, a very serious outcome was a certainty. Death was a matter of chance. You were the only adult. There were multiple opportunities for you to stop this madness.”
She praised the dignity of Mason and Max’s families throughout the six-week trial, describing the victims as “two good boys from loving homes with their whole lives ahead of them”.
Snook remained emotionless as the sentence was passed.
The arrest of Antony Snook
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Max’s sister Kayleigh Dixon delivered an emotional statement to the court while addressing Snook directly.
“I wanted to start by saying it was 33 seconds for our lives to be changed. The one thing I will constantly remember is him being in pain, dying in his blood,” she said.
Breaking down in tears, she added: “I want you to know that you killed me that day. I can’t sleep. I want you to know how much you have traumatised me.”
Max’s mother Leanne Ekland described cradling her son’s head as he lay dying, telling the court: “He said he just wanted to sleep. The paramedics were working on him, cutting away at his clothes. He was so pale.”
Mason’s sister Chloe Dore also told the court that her brother was “silly, clumsy and the joker of the family”.
The four teenage attackers will be sentenced on December 16.