Max and Mason: Pair who helped murderers burn their clothes jailed for five years each

  • Jailing them both for five years and three months, Mrs Justice May said it would be "hard to find a more serious example of assisting an offender than this"

Two men who helped cover up for a gang who murdered two innocent boys in Bristol have been jailed for more than ten years in total.

Jamie Ogbourne, 27, and Bailey Westcott, 23, helped burn clothes and destroy key evidence following the fatal stabbing of teenagers Max Dixon and Mason Wrist in January.

The pair both pleaded guilty to two counts of assisting an offender and were both sentenced at Bristol Crown Court to five years and three months in prison.

Ogbourne provided "safe harbour" for two members of the gang, who cannot be named because of their young age. He also gave them a burner phone, cannabis and a substantial amount of money.

Westcott was described in court as seeming to take charge after the incident unfolded.

The gang - containing four teenagers and one adult - killed best friends Max and Mason in Knowle in a case of mistaken identity on 27th January.

Mason Rist and Max Dixon died from stab wounds after being chased by the four armed teenagers on January 27 this year Credit: Family handout/Avon and Somerset Police/PA

Background to the case

Max Dixon, 16, and Mason Rist, 15, were stabbed to death with "fearsome weapons" just a few metres away from Mason's front door after being chased by a gang of teenagers in Knowle West on 27 January this year.

Their injuries took just 33 seconds to inflict but were unsurvivable. They were both declared dead in hospital in the early hours of 28 January.

Five people - two adult men and three teenage boys - were found guilty of their murders last month following a lengthy trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Riley Tolliver, 18, and boys aged 15, 16 and 17, had been driven to and from Knowle West by Antony Snook, 45, as part of a revenge mission after a house in the rival Hartcliffe area was attacked by masked youths.

The two boys had been wrongly identified as being responsible for bricks being thrown at the house earlier that evening.

Snook, a landscape gardener, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 38 years, while the others returned to court on Monday 16 December for the start of a two-day sentencing hearing.