Mum of murdered teen says sentence is 'an absolute joke'

One of the boys who murdered Max Dixon and Mason Rist has been jailed again, but won't actually serve more time

The mother of a teenager murdered in Bristol last year has slammed a judge for the sentence he handed out to one of the boys who attacked her son.

Leanne Ekland described the sentence handed down yesterday to a 16-year-old boy who murdered her son Max Dixon last year as ‘an absolute joke’.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named because of a court order, was yesterday sentenced for a separate stabbing he carried out just 22 hours before he took part in the attack on Max and his best friend Mason Rist.

On Tuesday, Judge Peter Blair handed down a sentence of four years in youth detention to the 16-year-old, and another three years on licence, for that earlier attack. He stabbed a 17-year-old near the Imperial Retail Park in South Bristol, the night before the double murder in Knowle West.

But the judge’s decision to have that sentence to run concurrently with the life sentence given to the 16-year-old in December for murdering Max and Mason has sparked fury among the families of both boys.

Back in December the teenager - who was the second youngest of the group of four youths who murdered Max and Mason - was given a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 18 years and 44 days before he can ask to be considered for parole.

The decision to have his four-year jail sentence for the earlier attack run concurrently with those 18 years and not consecutively will mean, in practice, the youngster will not serve it at all and will not receive any punishment in real terms.

The extra three years on licence will also be superseded by the life sentence for the double murder, a sentence he will still be the subject to even if released on parole in 18 years.

Max’s mum Leanne Ekland described the decision to allow the sentence to run concurrently as ‘an absolute joke’, and said it was decisions like that that meant ‘people want to take matters into their own hands’.

“Another seven years to run alongside his current sentence, for trying to stab someone less than 24 hours before the attack on our boys,” she said. “So basically, he’s not even been punished for the attack, as it’s not on top of his current punishment.

“What an absolute joke, no wonder people want to take matters into their own hands - just another kick while we are all down,” she added.

The court heard the teenager brandished a ten-inch Rambo knife after flagging down a car driver on Lakeshore Drive, the road that connects Airport Road and the Imperial Retail Park, at around 1.20am on Saturday, January 27 last year.

The boy, then 15, attacked the driver while he sat in his car, stabbing him multiple times in the hands, arm and leg, leaving him with lasting injuries.

Just under 22 hours later, at around 11.15pm on the evening of Saturday, January 27, the boy was one of a group of four who were driven to Knowle West and launched an attack on Max Dixon and Mason Rist, which left them with fatal stab wounds.

Police were only able to link the teenager to the earlier attack because when they were investigating Max and Mason’s murders they found the blade he used with his DNA on it and blood that matched the victim from Lakeshore Drive.

In court, Judge Peter Blair described the circumstances of the attack as ‘horrific’, and the blade he used as a ‘fearsome and highly dangerous weapon’. The teenager had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to three charges at an earlier hearing - one of GBH, another of possessing an offensive weapon, and a third of criminal damage to the car involved.

He told the boy he was being jailed for four years in youth detention, with an extended period of three years on licence for the GBH, another eight months for possession of a bladed article and no further sentence for the criminal damage.

All the sentences will run concurrently with his existing life sentence, and the 18 years parole tariff still stands.

He told the defendant: “I consider that you are dangerous. There can be no other conclusion. You are already sentenced to detention at His Majesty’s pleasure for no less than 18 years and 44 days as a result of your conviction by a jury of your part in the murders of two other children in this city.

“Your release will not be until it is considered that you are safe for release,” he added.