Jury shown CCTV of student being fatally stabbed

2 hours ago

Clara Bullockand

Cheryl Dennis,Bristol

News image — Collins' family previously described him as a "bright, kind, gentle and unassuming young man with his whole life ahead of him"

Family Handout Jamie Collins wearing a black denim jacket and backpack with black and white comics on the shoulder straps. He is sitting in a green park area surrounded by pigeons, with a brick church visible in the background. — Collins' family previously described him as a "bright, kind, gentle and unassuming young man with his whole life ahead of him"

Footage of the moment a university student was stabbed to death by his housemate has been played to a jury.

CCTV footage was shown at Bristol Crown Court showing Zack Coughlan, 23, dressed in black and wearing a mask to ambush and stab Jamie Collins, 21, in the garden of the student house they shared in Filton, near Bristol, on 8 April.

The footage also shows him in the days leading up to the killing as he bought the clothing he later wore during the stabbing.

The jury heard that Coughlan accepts he killed Collins but denies murder.

Coughlan and Collins, who was originally from Swansea, were both final-year students at the University of the West of England (UWE) and lived together in a house owned by the defendant.

Warning: Images within this article may cause distress

The house where the murder took place, pictured from across the street behind blue and white police cordon tape. The white end-of-terrace property has a wooden fence bordering the side of the house and stretching into the rear garden. There is a police officer in a yellow hi-vis vest standing on the pavement, guarding the cordon. — The victim was found stabbed to death in a garden behind the shared home

Prosecuting barrister Rupert Russell told the court Collins was attacked shortly before 18:00 BST after returning from university, where he was studying robotics alongside the defendant.

The CCTV footage which was played to the jury was recorded on a camera installed on a garage.

As the footage was played, Coughlan cried and looked down. Collins' parents left the court room.

Avon and Somerset Police CCTV footage showing someone dressed in black moving a knife towards another person with a bike. — The court saw CCTV footage of the stabbing

The jury heard that Coughlan fled the scene and dumped Collins' bike at a nearby retail park before he bought a change of clothes and threw his bloodstained clothing in a pond.

Defence barrister Dan Pawson-Pounds told the court that CCTV images of Coughlan at the pond did not show the same pond where his clothes were found.

The court was told that Coughlan then returned to the shared home on Cleve Road at about 21:00 BST.

CCTV footage shows him standing near Collins' body shortly after returning to the property before he dialled 999.

The police initially treated Coughlan as a witness and CCTV footage shows him going to campus the next day where he met two other people in the afternoon.

Coughlan later admitted killing Collins but denies his murder, saying he lost self control.

The trial continues.

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