Mum of boy, 16, stabbed by machete gang ‘tormented’ by killer’s raps behind bars
The heartbroken mum of a 16-year-old boy stabbed to death in a case of mistaken identity said she has been further ‘tormented’ by his killer bragging about the murder in raps posted to social media from jail.
Max Dixon, 16, and Mason Rist, 15, were hunted down and murdered by a gang of youths ‘armed to the teeth’ with machetes and other weapons in Bristol last January.
Kodi-Shai Westcott, 17, was one of four teens jailed for life for the brutal double-murder.
In an emotional interview today, Max’s mum Leanne Ekland said Westcott still ‘isn’t showing any remorse’ for what he has done – and is now ‘gloating’ about it.
She said she was made aware of an Instagram page containing rap videos in which Westcott refers to 33 seconds – the time jurors heard it took the gang to carry out the murders.
‘That’s all I needed to hear,’ she told hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley.
‘I knew that was reference to Max and Mason.’
Leanne went on: ‘It’s an insult to my son. They were two really lovely boys. They were not wrapped up in any gang wars or postcode wars. They were two boys who went out for a pizza and never came home.
‘[The killers] were said in court to have shown remorse. I personally didn’t see that in court, and it’s obvious now that he isn’t showing any remorse. He’s gloating about what he’s done.
‘I don’t understand how he could have access to any internet. He has lost that right when he murdered my son and Mason.’
Leanne was comforted by Reid, who told her Max ‘was more than somebody who was the victim that night: He was your son.
‘He wasn’t a victim – he was a wonderful, gorgeous, 16-year-old boy.’
Leanne replied: ‘He was, and that is why I do what I do. That’s why I get up every day, because I know that is what he would want me to do. But I’m struggling to learn to live without him.
‘It’s really difficult, because he was just a massive part of my life and a massive part of my girl’s life, and it’s really affected us as a family.
‘Grief is something that is sometimes supposed to bring you together, but this has not brought us together because we don’t know how to cope with our grief.
‘I should never have had to choose my son’s coffin. I should never have had to arrange his funeral. And I’ve got to live with that for the rest of my life.’
She has established the Max Dixon Foundation to raise awareness about knife crime and distribute bleed control kits, which could give stabbing victims ‘vital minutes that might save their life’.
Max and Mason, who had been best friends since attending nursery together, were heading out for a pizza when they were attacked.
Their attackers – Westcott, Riley Tolliver, 18, and two boys aged 15 and 16 – had been driven to Ilminster Avenue by Antony Snook, 45.
All five were convicted of two counts of murder following a six-week trial at Bristol Crown Court.
Max and Mason were spotted by those in Snook’s car and wrongly identified as being connected to that 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.
Within 33 seconds, the attackers had returned to Snook’s Audi Q2 motability car – leaving Max and Mason lying fatally injured on the street.
They were both pronounced dead in hospital in the early hours of January 28.
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