'You have to pay for your crime': Minister apologises as grieving mum demands crackdown after son's killer taunted family from jail

9 May 2025, 07:44 | Updated: 10 May 2025, 08:46

A grieving mum told LBC there needs to be harsher measures on the use of phones in youth jails after son's killer taunted family from prison.

A government minister has apologised to the mother of a murdered teenager after her son's killer sent the family messages and shared rap videos about his crimes from behind bars.

LBC first exposed that convicted murderer 17 year old Kodishai Wescott was taunting his victim's relatives on social media during our Online Safety Day in March.

It’s understood Wescott, who's serving a life sentence with a minimum of 23 years for killing best friends 15-year-old Mason Rist and 16-year-old Max Dixon in Bristol last year, has been found with a phone on multiple occasions.

Mason's mum Nikki Knight met with Youth Justice Minister Sir Nic Dakin in Westminster this week - who promised to review phone use in 'all places of custody', including young offenders' institutes.

Speaking exclusively to LBC directly after the hour-long meeting, Ms Knight said:  "He did apologise and said it shouldn't have happened in the secure unit that [Wescott] is in. I think [Sir Dakin] is going to learn from it, find where the gaps are and make changes. I'm quite positive, I think they were listening to us."

However, Ms Knight has told LBC she thinks youth detention centres and secure children homes need to crack down much harder on mobiles, to deter other young people from a life of crime.

In March, LBC reported that Wescott used a contraband phone to record himself rapping about Mason and Max's murders.

In the widely circulated clips, which were even sent to members of Ms Knight's family, the teenage killer mimes stabbing someone whilst glorifying knife crime, with lyrics that reference “putting him in the ground” and “being on a wing with killers”.

Read more: Wikipedia launches legal challenge against Online Safety Act

Read more: Expert says social media giants may avoid UK over fears of online safety laws

Ms Knight says he's faced no punishment for this - even after multiple phones were found in his room in a short space of time. She says during her meeting with Sir Nic Dakin, he promised to make changes in youth detention centres.

"I get a child has to be treated differently, but whether it is a young offenders institute or a secure childrens home I think anyone who commits these horrific crimes should be punished. If they think it is going to be a life of luxury, they'll [commit crimes] because they think 'it's alright we can get our phones, we can talk to our families' - it won't deter anyone. It's not a hotel, you've done something and you have to pay".

Ms Knight believes that many other victims’ families will have experienced online abuse from prisoners who've got hold of illegal phones whilst behind bars.

She wants them to face harsher punishments than the law currently allows, like increasing the sentences for those convicted of having a phone in prison.

"You just have to look on social media, I think it’s happening all the time. You have "HMP Banter" on Instagram where they are all rapping in their prison cells. It's never going to stop unless [the MOJ] do more. I think they're struggling to maintain security, to keep things from being dropped by drones over the prisons walls - maybe they need to think about giving them even longer sentences."

The Ministry of Justice has told LBC: “This was an horrendous crime. No family should have to see perpetrators gloating online and we’re grateful to Ms Ekland (Max Dixon's mother) and Ms Knight for taking the time to discuss their concerns with Minister Dakin.

“We’ve put in place tough measures to clamp down on the use of phones in prisons and have committed to review how we could extend these controls to all places of custody.”

Ms Knight also believes social media companies must do more to prevent the spread of online content that’s harming victim’s families.

Although the clips of Wescott inside youth detention were eventually removed by Instagram and SnapChat, there are still music videos on YouTube which feature him rapping about gang violence, before his conviction.

YouTube have said that the videos flagged by the family for removal do not currently violate YouTube's community guidelines.

Despite repeated pleas from Ms Knight’s family, these videos are still freely available to watch.

Under the government’s new online safety laws tech firms have a duty to remove harmful content, but the legislation has faced criticism from some campaigners who say it doesn’t go far enough.