A GETAWAY driver who helped chase and kill two teenage friends in a horrific case of mistaken identity has been jailed.

16-year-old Max Dixon and 15-year-old Mason Rist went out to get pizza when they unwittingly became embroiled in a “postcode rivalry” in the Bristol suburb of Knowle.

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Their killers had mistakenly identified them as the culprits of a previous attack, leading to their “rig” of an arsenal of “horrific weapons.”

Anthony Snook, 45, led a bloodthirsty hunt for attackers through the dark streets of Bristol in his flashy Audi.

Chilling CCTV later showed gang Chasing Max and Mason While walking innocently down the street together.

Snook, who was found guilty of murder last week, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 38 years.

Riley Tolliver, 18, and three teenage boys, ages 15, 16 and 17, were also found guilty but will be sentenced at a later date.

Making a victim impact statement, Max’s mother, Leanne Ekland, couldn’t hold back her tears as she described how she held her son’s head in her lap.

She told the court Max managed to open his eyes on his deathbed and told her he “just wanted to sleep”.

Recalling the moment she was told her son had died, Leanne added: “I will never be the same again. “I screamed, ran out of the room and fell to the floor.

“I have never felt pain like this, and the pain has stayed with me.”

Mason’s sister, Chloe Dore, said she could not touch her brother after his death because it was “evidence”.

She said she saw his favorite jacket “ripped” and his blood on the pavement before entering Mason’s bedroom, “praying he was there.”

Chloe added: “Mason doesn’t like confrontation. I know he would have been really scared if he didn’t know why this was happening to him that night.”

“He tried to get home, he was so close, but he couldn’t make it.”

Mason’s mother, Nikki Knight, has told how the horrific attack on her son took place outside their home.

Summing up the KC memorial, prosecutor Ray Tully said: “Although she knows it will never happen, she still hopes Mason will walk through her door.

“As a mother, she feels that she cannot protect her son. This is a thought that will stay with her.

“Ultimately, she says, trying to find the words to put her feelings and emotions on paper is an impossible task.

“She talks about how she still can’t go into the bedroom because of the emotions she knows she would feel by being in that room.”

Bristol Crown Court I heard fear It emerged on January 27 amid a postcode “competition” between Bristol’s Knowle West and Hartcliffe areas.

About an hour before Max and Mason died, a house in Hartcliffe was attacked by masked youths. launching He threw bricks at the window and injured a woman.

At 11 p.m., Snook, Tolliver and the three young defendants left the area armed with their cache of weapons.

Snook then drove them from Hartcliffe to Knowle West to find those they believed were responsible for the attack.

Prosecutor Ray Tully KC said: “As they passed Max and Mason walking down the street they thought they saw those responsible for the previous attack, or at least people linked to the attack.

“They were completely wrong about this. Max and Mason had absolutely nothing to do with and had no connection to the earlier events.”

The gang jumped out of the Audi and chased after innocent teenagers who had gone out to buy pizza.

Both friends tried to run towards Mason’s nearby home but became separated during the hunt.

Footage shows the gang speeding through Snook’s Audi After 33 seconds of massacre, Max and Mason were left to die on the street.

Tolliver and the 15-year-old boy attacked Mason, while the 16-year-old boy and the 17-year-old boy chased Max.

Mason was stabbed once in the back and chest, causing “non-survivable injuries”, while his best friend was stabbed once in the stomach.

They tragically died 15 minutes after being taken to hospital.

Tributes from Mason and Max’s devastated family

Max’s family said: “Max was a great character with a happy and cheerful outlook on life. He was funny, kind and caring. He was a big part of the family and very popular with his friends. She was full of life and had a very cheeky side but was always respectful.

“The past six weeks have been emotionally draining. Today’s result does not change the fact that two families returned home without their children. But now hopefully we can start to process and remember both of them and understand both families’ happy memories of Max and Mason.

“Max and Mason have known each other since kindergarten and have always been in the same classes. We often joked that it was a funny friendship because they were both so different, but they bounced off each other and brought out the best in each other.

“We will miss everything about him. We would be broken without him but he would want us to carry on and wouldn’t want anyone to be demoralised.

“We need to thank everyone who joined our cause. We have so much respect for the hard work, dedication and support given to our families. There are not enough words to describe how grateful we are to everyone. We will be forever grateful to them.”

Mason’s family said: “Our family is like a puzzle and with the loss of Mason it is as if a piece of our puzzle has been lost forever and will never be completed. Mason was a quiet boy who would never hurt a fly. She was so cute and innocent.

“It’s impossible to put into words how we feel. This whole process has been incredibly difficult and it was horrible to think about Mason’s final moments as we listened to what we heard and what happened to him.”

“These dangerous people took our son, our brother, our nephew, our uncle and our grandchild from us, and now we have to live the rest of our lives without our puzzle piece.

“We would like to thank from the bottom of our hearts everyone who worked so hard on this case. We appreciate that the investigation team was so hard-working and dedicated, working long hours and under pressure was not easy, but thanks to you we have reached this conclusion.

“The family would not have survived this unbearable period if we had not been assigned the best family liaison officers. They went above and beyond to ensure we were always kept updated, guided and supported throughout this awful process.

Speaking after the verdicts, Detective Superintendent Gary Haskins, senior investigating officer for Avon and Somerset PoliceHe said Max and Mason were on their way to get pizza when they were fatally attacked due to mistaken identity.

He added: “They are good kids, they are going about their own lives. businesswhen they are senselessly attacked by individuals in their own society for no reason.

“What we know is that they passed Max Mason while he was walking towards his house. Mason then leaves his house and goes to Max.

“Vehicles go by and they think, ‘they’re going to do this.’ They were driving around Knowle looking for people.

“We know they walked around Knowle two and a half times before encountering these two boys.”

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