Tom Bevan, SWNS

A judge broke down in tears as she jailed a 'weak and cowardly' man for a minimum of 38 years for driving four teens to kill two boys in a case of mistaken identity.

Anthony Snook, 45, was given a double life sentence for transporting Riley Tolliver, 18, and three teenagers aged 15, 16 and 17, on what was described as a 'blood thirsty' revenge mission.

He drove the youths, armed with a machete, zombie knife and baseball bat, to a neighbouring suburb of Bristol where they got out to attack Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, a court heard.

The close pals, who were heading out to buy pizza, were 'hunted down' by the gang and stabbed to death in the street with 'fearsome weapons' during a chilling 33-second attack caught on camera.

Max and Mason had played no part in any earlier attack on a house that prompted the gang seeking revenge as part of a 'postcode rivalry' and were completely innocent victims, the court was told.

Last Friday all five defendants were found guilty of double murder by a jury at Bristol Crown Court.

Snook, of Bristol, returned to the dock on Tuesday and told he would serve a minimum of 38 years before he was considered for parole.

During the sentencing hearing, victim impact statements were read by members of both Max and Mason's family, who spoke movingly of the lifelong trauma the deaths had caused.

And jailing Snook, Mrs Justice May herself struggled to fight back the tears as she described his actions as 'weak and cowardly'.

She said he had ample opportunity during the 14-minute drive to stop the "posse of armed teens" who were armed with weapons including a machete, zombie knife and baseball bat.

She said "unlikely it was your idea" but told him he would have felt the "mad blood lust of four armed teens - yet on you went."

She said Max and Mason had "simply and tragically been in the wrong place at the wrong time and nothing to do with anything."

"They just happened to be in Ilminster Avenue as you drove past," she added.

The court heard Snook stopped beside the boys, let the others out to carry out the attack and then sped them away.

Mrs Justice May added: "You assisted the armed boys driving them around Knowle - you knew they were carrying weapons and I am sure you knew they had knives of some kind.

"With knives in their hands and revenge in their minds a very serious outcome was a certainty.

"You were the only adult. You had multiple opportunities to stop this madness. To take them back, lock the doors so they couldn't get out.

"You were certainly no friend to them. Not acting like a responsible adult resulted not only in the deaths of two innocent boys but will be reflected in sentencing the court is obliged to pass on the teenagers, three still children, next month."

The judge said although it wasn't his original plan she described him as "so weak and cowardly to lend yourself to the revenge scheme of others."

She added: "They were two good boys leaving their homes with their whole life in front of them.

"No parent should have to worry about their child going out. There is a burning sense of unfairness. This was an attack on two boys when they played no part at all in what was driving the violence.

"Nothing can bring them back. No sentence can lessen the sense of loss and grief."

Before sentencing was passed Max and Mason's family read out statements to the court.

Leanne Ekland, the mother of Max Dixon, said: "That night was the worst night of my life. I will never be the same again."

She recalled a car pulling up outside the house and being told her son had been stabbed.

"I thought it was a wind up as I thought my son was in bed," she added.

She then screamed and begged people at the hospital to let her see him but said there were "people around stopping me."

When she did manage to see him, she cradled Max's head in her lap and said he briefly opened his eyes.

She added: "He looked at me as his eyes were closing. He said he just wanted to sleep."

When told he had passed away, Leanne added: "I screamed and ran out the room and fell to the floor. I knew then life had changed. I had never felt pain like it.

"I could not say goodbye properly - all I wanted to do was hold him."

Leanne said watching the CCTV footage, she just wanted to "pull him out the screen and make him safe."

She added: "I am unable to sleep and have flashbacks of that night. I blame myself, could I have done anything different? I was supposed to keep him safe and I failed him.

"He did not deserve to die. Due to your actions two families have been destroyed and there is no justification for that."

Nikki Knight, mother of Mason, said following her son's death she felt "frightened" and would "never feel safe" in her own home again with the murder scene right outside.

She added: "As a mother I feel I failed to protect my son. That is a thought that will stay with me."

She said she can no longer go into his bedroom as it "hits me all over again that he has gone."

Mason's sister Chloe Rist described her brother as "vulnerable and harmless."

She added: "He wouldn't know how to defend himself. I want to shake the world to tell everyone how special and important he was.

"He was a kind, sweet boy. I beat myself up that I did not stop him going out that night."

She told the court her brother was already dead when she arrived at hospital and added: "I couldn't see him as I was told he was now evidence. I could not touch my defenceless brother, cuddle him or say goodbye. I wanted to die in that moment. It was too much to cope with."

Going back to her mother's house, Chloe said she had to "walk past the crime scene" outside the house where she "felt safe growing up."

She recalled seeing his "favourite coat and two huge piles of blood on the pavement."

"I ran into my mum's house, straight to his bedroom, praying he was there," she added.

Waking up she saw "even more blood than the previous night and added: "That still haunts me."

She asked for a lady to visit Mason and put a phone to his ear. "Everything I said I waited for him to reply but he didn't.

"At Mason's funeral I sat in the hearse with him hoping he would wake up as I was there."

Chloe said Mason's dad died of Covid three years earlier and he had been "struggling so much but was just starting to be himself again."

She added: "I cannot see how we can recover from this."

She told the court: "He doesn't like confrontation. Imagine being Mason. The thought of being stabbed once was bad enough - knowing another knife was coming towards you - nothing you can do but wait for impact - how terrifying must that have been.

"He tried to come home. He was so close but he didn't make it. I have lost faith in the world. I don't want to be a hateful person but I can not help to be."

"He was a good kid who never upset anyone. Everything he did was with pure kindness.

"Mason fought for his life and now I have to fight for mine."

Addressing his killers, she added: "I've not seen any remorse or regret but it must weigh heavy on you that you got the wrong boys.

"He was not your enemy, he was no-one's enemy.

"I will never forgive you for what you have done. Taking something so special that can not be replaced. Mason could have been your friend - but now he is your victim."

Max's sister Kayleigh Dixon, added: "It was 33 sinister seconds and my life changed."

She said she was haunted he had to life her 'loving' brother had faced his "final moments in unbearable pain."

She added: "He just wanted to go to sleep. None of you knew anything about them. How kind they were and how desperately they are missed.

"You killed me that day. You ripped out my heart and soul."

She said the killers had subjected the family to a "lifetime of torture and grieving - both forever 15 and 16."

She added: "Max and Mason should have been safe. I hope you spend the rest of your lives suffering as much as we are."

Tolliver and the three other defendants, who can not legally be named, will be sentenced on December 16.

CCTV footage showed the moment Snook pulled up in his Audi as the victims left Mason's home in Bristol just before 11pm on January 27 this year.

Four youths are then seen jumping out of the vehicle as Max and Mason attempt to flee.

The two boys both suffered stab wounds the pathologist described as 'unsurvivable'.

The attackers are then seen getting back into the car and speeding off, leaving Max and Mason for dead in the street.

They died in separate hospitals a short while later.

The trial had heard both boys were victims of 'mistaken identity' after becoming unwittingly embroiled in a 'postcode rivalry.'

An earlier attack in the Hartcliffe area of Bristol, saw thugs brandishing machetes to attack a house with bricks thrown, smashing windows and injuring a female occupant inside.

The court heard the five defendants then "tooled themselves up" while motivated by revenge and drove to the neighbouring Bristol suburb of Knowle looking for those responsible.

The jury was told there had been 'incidents' in the past between the Hartcliffe BS13 and Knowle BS4 postcodes, which was said to be behind the feud.

They wrongly identified Max and Mason who were completely innocent and had no part in the earlier incident, the court heard.

The prosecution successfully argued they acted together and were jointly responsible for killing Max and Mason - who had nothing to do with the earlier attack that took place about an hour earlier.

Prosecutor Ray Tully KC said they had 'tooled themselves up' for a 'joint mission of revenge.

He added: "They thought they had spotted the people they believed responsible for the attack on the house - or at least connected with it in some way.

"They were entirely wrong about that - Max and Mason had nothing whatsoever to do with the attack on the property."