Student who stabbed housemate 30 times admits murder
ByBea Swallow & Harriet Robinson Bristol and Ross PollardReporting fromBristol Crown Court
A student who stabbed his housemate more than 30 times in a masked ambush has changed his murder plea to guilty.
Zack Coughlan, 23, attacked Jamie Collins, 21, in an alleyway near the garden of their home on 8 April and then left his body outside for eight hours before calling police.
A murder trial had been under way at Bristol Crown Court because Coughlan initially denied the charge, although he did admit killing Collins. He told jurors he stabbed Collins because he feared his housemate would kill him.
However, Coughlan has now changed his plea to guilty and will be sentenced for murder on Wednesday.
Describing him as "gentle" and "kind", Collins' family said he had been "looking forward to finishing his journey" at the University of the West of England (UWE) and returning home to Swansea "in just a few weeks' time".
Coughlan initially tried to blame masked attackers for his housemate's murder
The men were both final-year robotics students at the UWE and lived together in a house in Filton, owned by Coughlan.
During the trial, Coughlan said he stabbed his former friend because he felt he "had no choice", describing himself as "broken".
His defence relied on his fear, telling jurors he was "barely able to think" when he lay in wait for Collins to return home from university before stabbing him repeatedly.
Coughlan then left his housemate to die in the alleyway behind their home before cycling away on the victim's bike to dispose of bloodstained evidence.
Killer's 999 call claiming housemate's body found cold
On returning home he ate pizza and played video games, claiming he "had to disconnect" from what happened. He did not call 999 for another eight hours.
The entire attack was captured on a CCTV Coughlan had installed himself, which also shows the moment he staged the discovery of Collins' body.
Jurors were told he later rewatched this footage five times as he claimed he wanted to "make sense of what was happening and disconnect".
Det Ch Insp Lucy Edgeworth, of the major crime investigation team, said "all the evidence suggests" the killing was a "pre-planned, cold-blooded execution".
She said despite Coughlan claiming his housemate's political views had become more extreme and that he had talked about killing Coughlan, the motive for the murder was "not clear".
"We know there was a dispute about rent. We know that they held different political views. But none of those things make any sense to why somebody would carry out such a horrific crime," she said.
Police bodyworn camera footage shows student shortly after attack
Edgeworth pointed out inconsistencies in Coughlan's story, including claims he had injured his hands climbing a tree after the incident, which she called "slightly odd".
She said that CCTV evidence showed Coughlan proved he had changed his shoes, "yet in his account he'd given us no indication that he'd changed his trainers, and that's just one of many things that then began to unravel with his account".
Judge Justice Linden ruled Coughlan's partial defence of manslaughter by reason of loss of control could not be left to the jury to consider as part of their deliberations on the murder charge.
He told the jury: "You will have just heard that the defendant has changed his plea to the indictment to guilty.
"That means that he now admits the charge of murder."
He added: "I would like, on behalf of us all, to thank you for the service that you have given in this case."
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