The sister of a teenage boy who was murdered alongside his best friend as they went to buy a pizza brought his ashes, blood-stained hair and handprint to court. Chloe Rist told the four teenagers who murder her little brother Mason Rist that this was all she had “left of him”.
She held up a bag of ashes to show Riley Tolliver, 18, and three teenagers who cannot be named because of their ages, and said: “I’ve brought Mason’s ashes with me. If anyone is uncomfortable that I’ve done that… then this is how I feel.”
Mason, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, who had been friends since they were little, died from stab wounds after being chased by the four armed teenagers in the Knowle West area of Bristol at about 11pm on January 27 this year. Their attackers – Riley Tolliver, 18, and three boys aged 15, 16, and 17, who cannot be named due to their ages – had been driven to Ilminster Avenue by Antony Snook, 45.
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The four were found guilty of murdering Mason, 15, in Knowle West in January, along with the murder of his best friend, Max Dixon, 16, in a frenzied attack that lasted just 33 seconds in the street outside Mason’s home. The four were brought back to court to be sentenced today, Thursday, December 19.
After completing the reading of her victim impact statement, Chloe produced the items, and said this is ‘what you have done’. “I hope your ‘sorrys’ are genuine but there is no way to be sure. I hope you never forget Mason. I hope you don’t forget Mason because he didn’t deserve any of this.”
She said: “I shouldn’t have to look at my brother’s bone fragments either. I also have a piece of his hair which has his blood on it, if you want to see it? This is my dead brother’s handprint. Another thing you’ve done. I should be able to hold my brother’s hand, not look at it on a piece of paper. This is all I have left of him.”
It prompted little reaction from the four defendants, who sat impassively. Riley Tolliver stared straight ahead, while the 17-year-old defendant, dressed in a sky blue tracksuit, fiddled intently with a cord or bracelet. The 16-year-old defendant appeared the most visibly affected, with his head down at times, and watching Chloe Rist at other times. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here
Chloe fought back the tears to get through the reading of her statement. She said: “I was woken up to a phone call saying ‘Mason’s been stabbed, he’s in critical condition and I need to prepare myself because there’s loads of people working on him and it’s not looking good’.
Chloe described how her brother had been diagnosed with autism at the age of three which meant the family were protective of him as he was “vulnerable and harmless”. She told of the devastating impact of his death on her family, including the “ripple effect” of her grandmother suffering a heart attack and her baby being born prematurely.
Previously, the court heard how Snook and the armed teenagers set out for revenge after masked youths wielding machetes threw bricks at a property in the Hartcliffe area, injuring a woman. Max and Mason, who had been best friends since attending nursery together, were heading out for a pizza when they were spotted by those in Snook’s car and wrongly identified as being connected to that attack.
Tolliver, who had a baseball bat, and the three teenagers armed with machetes, jumped out of the car and chased after the two boys. Within 33 seconds, the attackers had returned to Snook’s Audi Q2 motability car – leaving Max and Mason lying fatally injured on the street. They were both pronounced dead in hospital in the early hours of January 28.
On Thursday, Anna Vigars KC, representing the 16-year-old defendant, said his IQ was on the second percentile and he had clinical indicators for mental health disorders. Ms Vigars said: “As well as what was going on within his home, he has faced community tensions from before an age of knowing better. Rivalries between areas of Bristol which he was born into. He was simply, by virtue of where he was born, an inheritor of some appalling division and rivalry between our city.”
On Monday, barristers for Tolliver and the 15-year-old boy relayed apologies to the families of Max and Mason at Bristol Crown Court. Ignatius Hughes KC, representing Tolliver, described how his client had only started to read and write since being remanded into custody.
Mr Hughes said Tolliver had written a short letter addressed to the judge and families of Max and Mason. Printed and in a mix of capitals and lower case, Tolliver wrote: “To judge and families, I just started to learn to read and write. I would like to say how deeply sorry I am. I should have never got into that car. I am sorry for the pain and sorrow, and I will carry this for the rest of my life. Deepest sorrow, Riley Tolliver.”
Kate Brunner KC, representing the 15-year-old defendant, also told the court: “He is sorry beyond words for what he has done. He has written to the court, and it is a genuine expression of how he feels. The letter was written with the help of a support worker because he could not have done it on his own.”
She said the boy was “indoctrinated into a horrifying reality where children were regularly armed with ferocious weapons” rather than receiving a normal upbringing. Psychiatrists found the 15-year-old had a mental age of eight-and-a-half, and lacked the skills to make rational choices and understand the consequences of his actions, Ms Brunner added.
Christopher Quinlan KC, representing the 17-year-old, described his client’s upbringing as “bleak and desolate” and said he had suffered from “malign influences”. “The one thing he lacked was structure, care and love,” Mr Quinlan said. He added that the teenager “thinks about the harm he’s caused the families every day”.
On Tuesday, Jamie Ogbourne, 27, of Hartcliffe, and Bailey Westcott, 23, of Whitchurch, were both jailed for five years and three months for helping the teenagers after they committed the murders. Ogbourne and Westcott, who previously pleaded guilty to charges of assisting an offender, were sentenced at Bristol Crown Court by Mrs Justice May.
The court heard how the pair helped to clean weapons used in the fatal attack. Westcott lit a fire to dispose of items linked to the attack, while Ogbourne arranged taxis and a change of clothing for two of the teenage murderers. Mrs Justice May will sentence the four teenagers at Bristol Crown Court on Thursday.