Teenagers who murdered son by mistake have 'taken my heart', grieving mother says
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The mother of a murdered teenager says the child killers responsible have "taken my heart" and don't "understand the impact" of what they've done. Max Dixon, 16, and Mason Rist, 15, were stabbed to death by a group of teenage boys in a case of mistaken identity in Bristol in January.
Those responsible - now aged 15, 16 and 17 - along with 18-year-old Riley Tolliver - were given life sentences at Bristol Crown Court today. In November, their getaway driver, Anthony Snook, 45, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 38 years. Max's mother, Leanne Ekland, has spoken of the panic she went through when she found out her son was dying on a nearby street.
"Me and my partner Trevor, we were up in bed," she told Sky News, describing the night of the murders. "Max was at home, in his bedroom on his PlayStation and we didn't think anything of it. "Next minute a car pulled up outside my house and was shouting at my window - 'Max has been stabbed' - and I said: 'No he's not, he's in bed'.".
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player. . Leanne rushed to Ilminster Avenue in the Knowle West area of the city and was allowed by paramedics to sit with her son. "It was just such a panic, I don't know what I was thinking, I was sat down on the floor and the paramedics were cutting his clothes," she said.
Max had met his friend Mason at his home on the Saturday evening to get pizza - but within seconds of leaving were attacked by a group armed with machetes. The gang were seeking revenge for an attack with bricks on a house in Hartcliffe in Bristol an hour earlier - but both boys had nothing to do with it.
