Another investigation is under way after a double murderer set up a second social media account from inside the secure unit where he has begun a life sentence for killing best friends Max Dixon and Mason Rist.
Bristol Live reported on Monday morning that Kodi Wescott was posting rap videos recorded from inside his secure children’s home onto a new Instagram account set up in January.
After Bristol Live contacted Meta, the company that owns Instagram, the account was removed on Monday afternoon. But within hours a second Instagram account was set up, promising more rap videos.
“Instagram got took everyone follow n share new freestyles coming soon” the 17-year-old posted, along with an image of him taken inside the secure unit.
On Tuesday, Bristol Live again contacted Meta, and the second account was removed within an hour.
The Ministry of Justice repeated its statement provided last week to Bristol Live, saying that prisoners – even ones in secure children’s homes rather than adult prisons – are not permitted to have phones or access the internet and social media. “Our thoughts are with the families of Max Dixon and Mason Rist who deserve better than to see this killer gloating about these awful murders,” said a Youth Custody Service spokesperson.
“Young offenders are not permitted to access social media or mobile phones and face sanctions if they are caught doing so, including extra time in custody.
“We are investigating these recordings with the council that runs the Secure Children’s Home where Kodishai Westcott is held and have demanded that social media companies take them down,” she added.
The six-week trial which found four teenagers and a man guilty of both murders of Max Dixon and Mason Rist had seen CCTV footage which showed that Kodi Wescott, now 17, was the only one of the five to stab both Max and Mason during the attack.
The grieving families of Max and Mason are arranging meetings with Government officials to lobby for action to be taken to prevent this happening in the future. Mason’s mum Nikki said: “The whole thing has made me so angry. How do so many people have access to phones in prison? I know the prison services do their utmost to monitor it and remove them when they find them but I think more needs to be done to stop this happening.
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Wescott turns 18 in August but the judge sentencing him to life with a minimum tariff of 23 years lifted the order banning him from being named. He is being held in a secure children’s home, and all children held there are not permitted to have unsupervised access to the internet and other recording equipment, or any access to social media.
Mobile phones are not permitted under any circumstances, and if caught doing so, children face extra time in custody and loss of privileges, among other available sanctions. All identified incidents of digital media misuse are investigated by a specific Digital Media Investigation Unit, which is part of the HM Prisons and Probation Service, and identifies and works with social media companies to try and take down this material.
“The Youth Custody Service and HMPPS is committed to tackling the threat posed by illicit mobile phones,” a spokesperson said. “We have a wide-ranging programme in place to prevent mobile phones from entering the secure estate, to detect and disrupt their use,” she added.