Bristol court hears student stabbed housemate Jamie Collins 30 times

Left · 2Bristol Crown Court heard that Zack Coughlan, 23, dressed in black and wore a mask and gloves to ambush his housemate Jamie Collins, 21, in the garden of their home in Filton, South Gloucestershire, and stabbed him 30 times. 1 2 Left · 2The attack happened shortly before 6pm on 8 April, as Mr Collins returned from UWE Bristol, where both men were final-year robotics students; he was left dying in the alleyway while the attacker cycled away. 1 2 Left · 2The jury heard that Coughlan dumped the bike at a nearby retail park, bought a change of clothes and threw his bloodstained clothing in a pond, then went home at about 9pm, put a pizza in the oven and played online games with friends. 1 2

Left · 2Coughlan called 999 at about 2am, eight hours later, saying his friend had been stabbed. Adam Vaitilingam KC, prosecuting, said he did this to "pretend that he had just found his friend's body in the garden"; he told armed police he had been at the park and had found Mr Collins after noticing the back gate was open. 1 2 Left · 2The attack was caught on CCTV at the house, which Coughlan showed officers who at first treated him as a witness. Prosecutors say his blood was found on Mr Collins's bike and that analysis of his phone matched the killer's movements on CCTV afterwards, so he became a suspect and was arrested. 1 2 Left · 2Coughlan had hand injuries, which he told people came from falling while climbing trees. The jury heard there had been earlier disagreements over rent, including whether Coughlan, who owned the house, was charging too much, but these had been resolved and friends noticed no significant problem. 1 2

Left · 2Coughlan accepts he killed Mr Collins and has admitted manslaughter but denies murder. The Mirror reports the prosecutor saying he is expected to claim he lost self-control because of things Mr Collins said over previous days and weeks that made him fear for his life. 2 1 Left · 1Mr Vaitilingam rejected that defence, saying it "doesn't even get past first base" and that the killing was "a carefully planned and cold-blooded execution", citing the disguise, a 20-minute wait outside the address and the later concealment as signs of control. 2 Left · 2Mr Collins's family earlier described him through police as a "bright, kind, gentle and unassuming young man with his whole life ahead of him". The trial continues. 2 1