University student changes plea and admits murdering housemate near Bristol
Twenty-three-year-old Zack Coughlan stabbed fellow student Jamie Collins at their shared house in April
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A university student has changed his plea during his trial and admitted murdering his housemate near Bristol.
Twenty-three-year-old Zack Coughlan stabbed fellow student 21-year-old Jamie Collins, who was originally from Swansea, in the garden of their shared house in Filton back in April.
A trial had been underway at Bristol Crown Court because Coughlan initially denied the charge of murder and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Today (20 October) at Bristol Crown Court Coughlan changed his plea to guilty after a legal ruling by the trial judge.
He will be sentenced for Jamie's murder tomorrow (21 October).
Mr 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.”
During his trial the Court heard Mr Collins was stabbed repeatedly and Coughlan left him dying in an alleyway near the garden of their home as he cycled away on his housemate’s bike.
The ambush
During the trial, Bristol Crown Court heard how Coughlan dressed all in black and wore a mask and gloves to ambush Mr Collins as the robotics student returned from UWE Bristol shortly before 6pm on April 8.
Mr Collins, originally from Swansea, south Wales, sustained 30 stab wounds in the incident and died from his injuries.
Adam Vaitilingam KC, prosecuting, told the jury: “This was a carefully planned and cold-blooded execution.”
Following the fatal attack, Coughlan then left Mr Collins dying in the alleyway and cycled away from the scene on the victim’s bike.
After dumping the bike at a nearby retail park, Coughlan bought a change of clothes and threw his bloodstained clothing in a pond, according to footage played to the jury.
He returned to the house they shared in Cleve Road, which had three CCTV cameras, at about 9pm before going for a walk and bike ride just before 12.45am on April 9.
Footage then shows Coughlan going into the garden with a torch at 2.06am, with Mr Collins seen lying on the ground in the gateway.
He rang police at 2.07am claiming he had just found Mr Collins’s body in the rear garden.
The attack was caught on CCTV installed at the house they shared, which Coughlan showed the attending police officers who initially treated him as a witness.
The defendant’s blood had been found on Mr Collins’s bike, and analysis of his mobile phone matched the killer’s movements afterwards captured on CCTV.
He also had injuries to his hands, and he told people who saw him bleeding that he had been climbing trees and had fallen and hurt himself.
After the murder, Coughlan told a university friend he wanted to hold a memorial for his housemate.
"Horrible"
As he gave evidence last week, Coughlan told the jury he accepted being the figure dressed in black that was captured killing Mr Collins on CCTV footage.
Dan Pawson-Pounds KC, representing Coughlan, asked: “Do you accept that you killed Jamie Collins?”
Coughlan replied: “Yes.”
Mr Pawson-Pounds asked: “Do you accept that you left his body by the rear gate for just under eight and a half hours before calling the emergency services?”
Coughlan said: “Yes.”
He also admitted lying to police and friends about what had happened to Mr Collins.
When asked about how he felt about that now, Coughlan replied: “Horrible.”
“Stressed and overwhelmed”
The court heard Coughlan is half Danish and grew up in Cork, Ireland, with his family before moving to Bristol to study robotics at the age of 19.
He described suffering violence at the hands of his father while growing up and said his mother, who worked for Apple, was often away working.
Coughlan said he was a “high achiever” and was expecting to graduate university with a first-class degree but became “stressed and overwhelmed” in the weeks leading up to Mr Collins’ death.
In July 2024, his mother lent him £300,000 to purchase a three-bedroom house in Cleve Road, Filton, which he lived in with two fellow robotics students – including Mr Collins.
Initially, Coughlan charged his housemates £650 rent plus bills per month before reducing this to £600 and later to £500, he said.
He told the court this money was spent on purchasing white goods for the property and dealing with issues relating to mould and rats.
Coughlan insisted that a 3D printer he owned was a gift from his family and that he had used savings to fund an expensive jacket but his housemates were not aware of this.
In January, he spoke to Mr Collins after noticing he was becoming “hostile” towards him, the defendant said.
“I asked him what was wrong,” Coughlan said. “He was so angry.
“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 spoke of exploitation. That was never my intention at all. I eventually decided to drop the rent entirely.”
He added: “I cared about my friends. I wanted to help them.”
Coughlan said Mr Collins was still “reluctant” to pay bills, despite the rent being removed.
“I had thought I should suggest that maybe it is better we didn’t live together because of how upset he was,” Coughlan told the court.
“I wish I had.”
The court also heard that Mr Collins planned to move out of the house at the end of his studies, in June, and return to Swansea.
"Bright, kind, gentle"
In a tribute released back in April, Jamie Collins' family paid tribute to him: “Words cannot describe how we are feeling as a family right now.
"Our Jamie was a bright, kind, gentle and unassuming young man with his whole life ahead of him.
“He was looking forward to finishing his Uni journey and planning to come home to us in Swansea in just a few weeks’ time.
“We know he was heading for a hugely successful future following his engineering and robotics degree.
In a statement issued following the guilty plea, Mr Collins’ family said his death had “affected our family in a deep, profound, and lasting way”.
“As a family we have had to explain repeatedly to people what has happened,” they said.
“Every time we do so it reinforces the pain of him having been killed so suddenly, and in such a senseless and brutal way.
“Our family has been sickened that Zack Coughlan pretended to help Jamie when in fact he is responsible for killing him.
“We even felt sympathy for Zack at the start, and asked police if he was okay, because of how he had initially deceived everyone.”
They said Mr Collins had almost completed his degree and had only two further pieces of coursework to finish when he died.
“Jamie was a sensitive and caring young man. His passion for equality stood out to everyone who knew him. His unapologetic inclusivity will be his legacy for all of us,” they said.
“Jamie was incredibly bright and he had a promising future ahead of him. He had only two pieces of coursework to complete for his robotics degree before he was going to come home in a matter of weeks.
“Jamie had accumulated enough results that he was awarded a 2:1 degree.
“We were pleased to see his friends collect their degrees, but it was another emotional and painful reminder of what we have lost.
“Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to everyone who has supported us over the past six months.
“To see so many of Jamie’s friends in the public gallery at court was truly overwhelming.
“We will never forget people’s kindness.”
"Coughlan lied continuously to protect himself"
Detective Chief Inspector Lucy Edgeworth, who led the investigation, said: “Coughlan made out he was scared of Jamie and said he lost control out of fear for his life.
“Not a single shred of evidence to support that claim was found during our investigation and it was not an account he shared with police during three interviews after he was arrested.
“In court Coughlan admitted to lying in the hours and days after the murder.
“Yet he still tried to turn the tables and blame Jamie for the vicious murder he committed, when Jamie is tragically no longer able to defend his name.
“Coughlan lied continuously to protect himself – whether it to be to police or his friends about what happened.”