Student stabbed housemate 30 times in masked ambush

A university student lay in wait for his housemate before stabbing him 30 times, in what the prosecution describe as a "carefully planned and cold-blooded execution".

Zack Coughlan, 23, dressed in black and wore a mask to ambush Jamie Collins, 21, in the garden of their home in Filton, near Bristol, on 8 April.

The trial at Bristol Crown Court was told earlier how Coughlan left Collins dying in the alleyway as he cycled away on Collins' bike to dispose of his bloodstained evidence.

After returning home, Coughlan cooked a pizza, played online games with friends and then called police. 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: The below footage contains distressing scenes.

The court was told the student was attacked shortly before 18:00 BST after returning from university, where he was studying robotics alongside the defendant.

After fleeing the scene, Coughlan dumped Collins' bike at a nearby retail park, bought a change of clothes and threw his bloodstained clothing in a pond.

He then returned to their shared home on Cleve Road at about 21:00, the court was told.

Adam Vaitilingam KC, prosecuting, told the jury: "At about 2am – eight hours later – the defendant called 999. He said that his friend had been stabbed. They told him to do CPR until paramedics arrived and he told them that he was."

The court heard that Coughlan was "sobbing down the phone" during the call.

"Shortly afterwards, armed police officers arrived. They saw Jamie's body in the back garden of the house," Vaitilingham told the court.

"They spoke to the defendant. He told them that he had been out at the park, and he had just come home.

"He had noticed that the back gate was open so came outside and it was then that he found Jamie lying in the garden."

The court was told the attack was caught on CCTV installed at the house they shared. Coughlan showed officers the footage, who initially treated him as a witness.

Vaitilingam told jurors the defendant's blood was later found on the victim's bike, and analysis of Coughlan's mobile phone matched the killer's movements captured on CCTV afterwards.

Coughlan also sustained injuries to his hands, but claimed this was due to climbing trees earlier in the evening.

"The investigation showed clear evidence that it was Zack who had been the man who had waited for Jamie and then stabbed him to death before cycling away," Vaitilingam said.

"And so, Zack went from being a witness to a suspect in the murder."

Vaitilingam said there had previously been disagreements between the pair about paying rent and whether Coughlan was charging too much, but they had since been resolved.

"There was nothing that any of the friends were aware of that seemed to be a significant problem," he said.

He added they had "hung out together" as part of an "entirely normal student life".

"We understand that [Coughlan] will say that he had lost control of himself because of things that Jamie had said to him over the previous days and weeks that made him fear for his life," Vaitilingam continued.

"Far from being out of control, Zack was very much in control of what he did, and you will see that as we show you his movements in the hours and minutes before he killed Jamie.

"Sometimes the prosecution simply cannot say why a defendant did what he did and the only person who can truly say is the killer."

The trial continues.

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