Murder accused says housemate 'threatened to kill him'

A student who stabbed his housemate to death was "terrified" after being told they were "looking forward to killing him".

Zack Coughlan, 23, stabbed Jamie Collins, 21, at their home in Filton, Bristol, on 8 April. Coughlan admits responsibility for the attack but denies murder on the grounds that he feared for his life.

Sobbing while giving evidence during his trial at Bristol Crown Court, the defendant told the jury that Collins insisted he meant his threat, and Coughlan locking his bedroom door "wasn't going to help".

Later that same day, Coughlan ambushed Collins, stabbing him 30 times and leaving him for dead, only to call the police eight hours later.

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

CCTV footage was previously shown in court showing Coughlan dressed in black and wearing a mask to ambush and stab Collins in their garden, before cycling away to dispose of the bloodstained evidence.

After returning home, Coughlan cooked a pizza, played online games with friends and then called police at 02:00.

In his evidence to the jury, Coughlan said he felt "horrible" about killing his former friend and lying to the police.

He said he had a "good relationship" with Collins before he moved in, but tension grew, especially over the issue of rent.

When they eventually spoke about the rent, Coughlan said Collins was "more hostile than he had ever been".

"He said it was disgusting to charge your friends rent... I was shocked to be honest. He hadn't told me anything about this before," he said.

Coughlan said he reduced the rent to £500 and then to zero because his tenants were his friends and he "wanted to help".

But Coughlan said this didn't fully diffuse tensions and Collins would talk about landlords and multinational corporations being to blame for social inequality - and his criticisms of landlords would sometimes become personal.

"He didn't feel that rent should be charged and there was a lot of inequality and that was a landlord's fault," he told the jury.

"He mentioned he wanted to pour acid down Elon Musk's throat... This disturbed me quite deeply," he said.

"I thought he was my friend so I didn't want to believe that he meant any harm."

Coughlan said by April their relationship was "pretty bad", as Collins was just ignoring him and all communication had broken down.

On 7 April, he decided to ask Collins to leave the house, which prompted a threat of violence, the court heard.

"I think he had a kitchen knife in his hand and he said he looked forward to killing me," he told the jury, prompting audible gasps in the public gallery from Collins' family.

"He said what I had done was disgusting and that I was scum and he was looking forward to killing people like me - I was so frightened.

"I went to my room," he told the court, in tears. "I hid under the covers and I locked my door."

Coughlan said he didn't tell police because he didn't think they would help him, based on their inaction in response to a recent report he had made about a group of men pulling a knife on him in his garden.

The next day, Coughlan said he tried speaking to Collins as he was leaving for university.

"I wanted to believe what he said wasn't true, I had to understand if he meant what he said so I asked him," he said.

"And he said yes. And locking my door wasn't going to help."

"That was the last thing we ever said to each other," Coughlan said, adding he felt "terrified" and he "didn't know what to do to protect himself".

The trial continues.

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