One man and four teenagers have been found guilty of the murder of two best friends at Bristol Crown Court. Max Dixon, 16, and Mason Rist, 15, were killed in a machete attack in the south Bristol neighbourhood of Knowle West, in a case of mistaken identity. Report by Jonesia. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00Bristol, 27th of January. This is 16-year-old Max Dixon calling at his
00:06friend 15-year-old Mason Rist's house to spend Saturday evening together. Just a
00:12couple of minutes later, and just a few metres away, the two best friends were
00:17killed in a machete attack, a case of mistaken identity. Today, five people were
00:23found guilty of their murder at Bristol Crown Court. The prosecution claimed this
00:29Audi, with all five defendants inside, had been driving around the streets of
00:33Knoll West, looking for people to attack. 45-year-old Anthony Snook, 18-year-old
00:40Riley Toliver, and three boys who cannot be named for legal reasons, all wrongly
00:45believed Max and Mason were involved in this incident, where bricks were thrown
00:50at a house in Hartcliffe. The prosecution said the defendants believed those
00:54responsible were from neighbouring Knoll West. The two neighbourhoods in
00:58South Bristol have a known rivalry. At 23.13, the Audi drove past Max, calling at
01:06Mason's house. The court heard this was the moment the defendants chose their
01:11victims. Four boys got out of the car, carrying huge knives.
01:17Both the knives that we've recovered are significant weapons, and the injuries
01:21sustained by Max and Mason were unsurvivable. These were two beautiful,
01:25innocent children that were going about their business, and even when the vehicle
01:31stopped, they probably had no insight as to what was to happen to them. Max died
01:36from a single stab wound to the back. Mason was stabbed once in the back and
01:41once in the chest. Snook told the jury he had no idea his
01:46passengers were carrying knives. The prosecution said there was no way he
01:51could have failed to notice the four teenagers were armed, and all five
01:55defendants were found jointly responsible for the murder of two boys
01:59who had known each other since nursery. Our family, like most families, is a
02:06big jigsaw puzzle, and Mason was a massive part of that jigsaw puzzle, and
02:14basically that piece of the puzzle has now been destroyed and will never be
02:20replaced, but we'll always be in our hearts. The last six weeks have been
02:25emotionally draining. Today's outcome doesn't change the fact that two
02:29families go home without their boys, but we can now hopefully begin to process
02:34that and remember them both, and the happy memories that both families have
02:37of Max and Mason. Two friends caught up in a feud they were unaware of, and
02:43killed by weapons that should never have been on the streets or in the hands of
02:48teenagers.