A getaway driver who helped four teenagers kill two boys with machetes during a case of mistaken identity has been jailed for life for murder and will serve a minimum of 38 years in prison.
Antony Snook, 45, drove Riley Tolliver, 18, and boys aged 15, 16 and 17 to and from Knowle West in Bristol where they murdered Mason Rist and Max Dixon.
Mason, 15, and Max, 16, died from stab wounds after being chased by the four armed teenagers on January 27 this year.
Tolliver and the three boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been driven to and from Knowle West by Snook as part of a revenge mission.
The two boys had been wrongly identified as being responsible for bricks being thrown at a house in the rival Hartcliffe district earlier that evening, Bristol Crown Court heard.
Around an hour after that attack, Snook left the property with two of the boys and picked up the other two in a nearby street before heading to Knowle West.
His Audi Q2 was driven around Knowle West for at least 12 minutes before the attack.
Snook drove down Ilminster Avenue when they saw Mason and Max in the street as they went for a pizza – wrongly believing they had spotted those responsible for the 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.
Max and Mason are seen going to different sides of the street, each pursued by two people from the vehicle.
Tolliver and the 15-year-old boy attacked Mason while the 16-year-old boy and 17-year-old boy chased Max.
The 17-year-old boy also struck Mason, who was lying injured on the ground, as he headed back to the Audi after attacking Max.
A CCTV camera on Mason’s nearby house captured how the attack lasted just 33 seconds from the car pulling up to the teenagers getting back in and leaving.
Mason and Max sustained fatal stab injuries and both died in hospital in the early hours of January 28.
Snook, a one-legged landscape gardener, drove the teenagers from the scene and dropped them off in Knowle West.
A fire was lit in a back garden and items linked to the attack disposed of.
Snook, of Dowling Road, Bristol, was convicted by the jury last week of two counts of murder following a six-week trial.
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.
She told him: “You assisted the armed boys. You knew they were carrying weapons.
“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.”
The judge said it was “impossible to fathom” why Snook agreed to drive the four boys, who were aged 14, 15, 16 and 17 at the time.
She said they had “truly fearsome” weapons, including a black “killer zombie-type” knife, which is illegal to sell in the UK.
The judge told Snook: “You all went hunting for victims around the streets of Knowle. You would have experienced the atmosphere in that car, felt the mad, chaotic bloodlust of the four armed teens, yet on you went.
“Mason and Max were simply and tragically in the wrong place at the wrong time. They had had nothing whatsoever to do with the earlier attack on the address in Hartcliffe.”
CCTV footage of the 33-second attack, captured from a camera on the front of Mason’s home, makes “profoundly distressing viewing”, she said.
I will never forgive you for what you have done. Mason could have been your friend but now he’s your victim
Mrs Justice May appeared to become emotional as she described Max and Mason, and the effects of their deaths on their families.
The judge told the court: “Mason, 15, and Max, 16, had been best friends for a long time. These were two good boys from loving homes with their whole lives ahead of them.
“Best friends who went out together for a walk on a Saturday night and never came home again.”
Members of the families wept and embraced after the sentence was passed, while Snook remained emotionless.
In victim personal statements, the sisters and mothers of Max and Mason paid tribute to them and laid out the devastating impact of their murders.
Mason’s sister Chloe told Snook: “Although I haven’t seen any remorse or regret, it must weigh heavy on you that you got the wrong boy. Mason wasn’t your enemy, he wasn’t anyone’s enemy.
“I will never forgive you for what you have done. Mason could have been your friend but now he’s your victim.”
Max’s mother, Leanne Ekland, told Snook: “My son didn’t deserve to die and neither did Mason. Our families didn’t deserve to go through this.
“Due to your actions that night, two families have been destroyed.
“There are no words to describe how much I love my son, no words to describe the pain of losing him. Our family unit has been destroyed.”
The four teenagers will be sentenced on December 16 after the preparation of reports.
