Families describe living their own life sentence after murder of Max and Mason

Antony Snook, 45, was convicted of murdering Max and Mason in Knowle West on January 27, as was Riley Tolliver, 18, a 17-year-old boy, a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy, at Bristol Crown Court last week.

On Monday, Snook was handed two life sentences by Mrs Justice May and jailed for a minimum of 38 years. The four other defendants will be sentenced in December.

As part of the sentencing hearing, the mothers and sisters of Max and Mason gave moving statements to the court about the boys.

Leanne Ekland, the mother of Max, described how January 27 was “the worst night of my life” when her youngest child and only son was murdered.

She told of hearing a car pull up outside the family home and the words “Max has been stabbed”, which she initially believed was a joke as she thought he was in bed.

“When I got there, I can just remember screaming ‘let me see my son’ and people around me stopping me,” Ms Ekland told the court.

“I can remember finally sitting on the ground with Max’s head between my legs, telling him I was there and to open his eyes.

“I remember him looking at me and his eyes closing, he said he just wanted to sleep. It was so frantic as the paramedics were working on him, cutting away at his clothes, he was so pale.”

She told how the family went to Southmead Hospital where they were told Max’s injuries were fatal.

“When we were allowed to see Max, we walked in on them trying to save him and then stop and call out his time of death,” she said.

“I couldn’t even say goodbye to him properly, I wasn’t allowed to touch him as he was a crime scene. All I wanted was to hold him, and I wasn’t allowed.”

Ms Ekland told how she had attended each day of the six-week murder trial, having to listen to evidence from the pathologist on what would have been Max’s 17th birthday.

She described wanting to pull her son to safety in the CCTV footage of the incident, which was played to the jury.

“I have found it very hard to watch what those two boys had gone through, the fear of not knowing what was happening and why, two boys that had done nothing wrong, which has cost them their whole lives and two families having to live a life sentence,” she said.

Kayleigh Dixon, Max’s sister, told the court that what happened took just “33 sinister seconds”.

She said: “The one thing I will constantly remember is that Max and Mason lived their final moments in unbearable pain, dying in their own blood.

“I am left with the memory of my brother Max begging that he just wanted to go to sleep.”

She told Snook: “I want you all to know that you killed me that day. You ripped out my heart and soul. It’s broken and unfixable.

“I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I can’t function, all I see in my mind is my lifeless brother’s body, I can feel how cold his hands were and how stiff his body was. His soul disappearing from his brown eyes.”

Mason’s mother, Nikki Knight, told how his father died from Covid-19 when Mason was 13.

She described how Mason’s murder had left her “frightened” living in her own home and feeling paranoid, hearing noises.

“I’m always looking at the door, checking the locks and trying to do all I can to feel safe again,” Ms Knight said.

“I do these things while still expecting Mason to walk through the door and come home to me. The lights have to be left on all the time.”

Ms Knight described the loneliness in her life following her son’s death, near their home, in what should have been a safe place for him.

“This house was the three of us, then the two of us after Mason’s dad died. And now it’s just me,” she said.

“To put into words how I feel is impossible. I have to go out and be with people all the time.

“I can’t be on my own. If I am on my own time just stands still, I count down the time until I can go to bed.”

Chloe Rist, the sister of Mason, described her brother as her “best friend” and said they were “inseparable growing up”.

Mason was diagnosed with autism at the age of three, leading to his mother and sister being overprotective as he was “so vulnerable and harmless”, she said.

Ms Rist spoke of how she arrived at Bristol Children’s Hospital after Mason had died and was unable to see him “because he was now evidence”.

She told the court: “Just imagine not being able to touch your defenceless brother and cuddle him, or even to say goodbye.

“I had to go back to my mum’s house that night, feeling empty, walking past the crime scene outside her house, the place we used to feel safe growing up.”

She spoke of Mason’s favourite coat “all ripped up” and his blood on the pavement outside their home.

“Mason’s dad died of Covid two years ago and so the last two years of Mason’s life I watched his heart break, he was struggling so much,” she said.

“He just started being himself again and the first time he went out this happened. The sadness I feel for him is indescribable.”

Ms Rist said her baby was born prematurely and struggled to survive, weighing just 4lb, adding: “I believe this is a ripple effect of Mason’s death.”

Describing the impact on her daily life, she told the court: “All I see when I close my eyes is him bleeding out slowly on the pavement, in pain all on his own.

“What upsets me is that he tried to get home, he was so close but didn’t make it.”

She described going to Mason’s school, where he should be sitting his GCSEs, to collect his belongings, course work and unfinished art piece.

Ms Rist, speaking directly to Snook, added: “Mason was a good kid who never upset anyone, he had no regrets in life, everything he did was with pure kindness.

“Although I haven’t seen any remorse or regret, it must weigh heavy on you that you got the wrong boy, a mistake that has cost us so dearly.

“I will never forgive you for what you have done – Mason could have been your friend but now he’s your victim.”