Teenagers who murdered two innocent boys in a case of mistaken identity during a revenge attack have apologised for their crimes, a court heard.
Max Dixon, 16, and Mason Rist, 15, were stabbed to death after being chased by a gang of armed teenagers in Bristol on January 27 this year.
The four – Riley Tolliver, 18, and boys aged 15, 16 and 17 – had been driven to and from Knowle West by Antony Snook, 45, as part of a revenge mission after a house in the rival Hartcliffe area was attacked by masked youths.
The two boys had been wrongly identified as being responsible for bricks being thrown at the house earlier that evening.
The five defendants were all convicted of murder last month after a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
Snook, a one-legged landscape gardener, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 38 years, while the others returned to court on Monday for the start of a two-day sentencing hearing.
Ignatius Hughes KC, representing Tolliver, told trial judge Mrs Justice May his client had only started to learn to read and write, since being remanded into custody after the murders.
He said Tolliver lacked “nurture and positive role models” while growing up, and added: “The deaths of Max and Mason are unspeakable tragedies but looking at this young man with all of the lacking skills he has, it is a tragedy he was born into.”
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.”
Miss Brunner said empathy was missing from his childhood and he suffered “appalling neglect”.
“There is a shocking fact that empathy seems to be a new concept to him,” she said.
“That’s a result of his upbringing. One factor is the neglect that he suffered, and pouring into the gap that this left is the violence and conflict of his upbringing.
“Rather than being socialised in a normal way, he was indoctrinated into a horrifying reality where children were regularly armed with ferocious weapons and violence was normalised.”
The barrister said psychiatrists had found the teenager had a mental age of eight and a half, and said he lacked the skills to make rational choices and understand the consequences of his actions.
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”.
“Where were the adults in his life?” he said.
“The one thing he lacked was structure, care and love.”
He added that the teenager “thinks about the harm he’s caused the families every day”.
During the trial, the court heard that about an hour after the attack on the Hartcliffe property, Snook left with two of the boys and picked up the other two in a nearby street before heading to Knowle West.
His Audi Q2 mobility car was driven around Knowle West for at least 12 minutes before the attack.
The best friends had left Mason’s home on Ilminster Avenue and were going for a pizza when they were spotted by the defendants, who wrongly believed they were responsible for the earlier 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.
Max and Mason sustained fatal stab injuries and both died in hospital in the early hours of January 28.
A fire was lit in a back garden and items linked to the attack disposed of.
The hearing continues.
