One of the teenagers who murdered Max Dixon and Mason Rist stabbed another teenager less than 24 hours before he was involved in the double murder in South Bristol. The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, attacked a man near the Imperial Retail Park, with a ten-inch serrated ‘Rambo’ knife and left him needing hospital treatment.
He made a first appearance via videolink at Bristol Magistrates Court today, March 12, 2024, and pleaded guilty to three charges relating to the incident. He admitted one charge of assault causing grievous bodily harm, another of possession of an offensive weapon and a third of criminal damage of a value under £5,000 to a Toyota Aygo.
The incident happened on Lake Shore Drive, near the Imperial Retail Park in Hartcliffe, at around 1.20am in the early hours of Saturday, January 27 last year. The injured man, who was 18 at the time and is 19 now, suffered injuries to his hands when the teenager attacked him with the Rambo knife while he was sitting in his car.
The victim was taken to hospital twice in subsequent days for treatment for the injuries and staff there called police. The attack happened late on the Friday night, into the early hours of Saturday morning on the last weekend of January 2024. Later that evening, the 16-year-old was a member of a gang of four teenagers who were driven from Hartcliffe into Knowle West by Antony Snook.
The group of four chased and stabbed Max Dixon and Mason Rist in Ilminster Avenue, in an attack that lasted less than 33 seconds. A six-week trial in October and November last year heard that the 16-year-old involved did not actually physically stab either of the boys, but ran at them armed with a large knife.
He was convicted of two counts of murder under joint enterprise laws, and jailed for life, with a minimum term to be served before he can apply for parole of more than 15 years.
Bristol Live understands that the knife involved in the attack at Imperial Retail Park 22 hours earlier was one of half a dozen found by police who searched the home of another of the gang, Kodi Wescott, following the double murder of Max and Mason. Traces of blood on the knife matched the blood of the victim of the Lakeshore Drive attack, and DNA traces matched that of the 16-year-old involved in the attack on Max and Mason.
At the hearing at Bristol Magistrates Court, he was sent to Bristol Crown Court for sentencing. The case was adjourned to April 15.