ZACK COUGHLAN PLEADS GUILTY TO MURDERING JAMIE COLLINS

Zack Coughlan pleaded guilty to murdering his housemate Jamie Collins at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday, 20 October, after initially denying the charge. Coughlan wore black clothes, a mask and gloves as he waited for Collins to return from university on 8 April. Accounts place the stabbing either in the garden of their Filton home or in an alleyway beside it, and put the number of stabs at 30 or more than 30. Prosecutor Adam Vaitilingam KC called the killing “a carefully planned and cold-blooded execution”.

Coughlan and Collins were final-year robotics students at the University of the West of England and lived in a house owned by Coughlan. After the attack, Coughlan cycled away on Collins’ bicycle and left it at a nearby retail park. He bought a change of clothes and put his bloodstained clothing in carrier bags weighted with bricks before throwing them into a pond. Coughlan returned home at about 9pm, ate pizza and played online games with friends. At about 2am, he called 999 and claimed he had found Collins’ body.

During the trial, Coughlan told jurors he feared Collins would kill him and said he was “barely able to think” as he waited for him. Mr Justice Linden ruled that the jury could not consider Coughlan’s partial defence of loss of control before Coughlan changed his plea. Collins’ family said he had looked forward to completing his degree and returning to Swansea within weeks. They said: “His passion for equality stood out to everyone who knew him.” The court will sentence Coughlan on Wednesday.