Zack Coughlan, 23, changes plea to guilty over planned ambush of fellow robotics student James Collins in Bristol garden.
A university student has admitted murdering his housemate after ambushing and stabbing him around 30 times in what prosecutors described as a carefully planned and cold-blooded attack.
Zack Coughlan, 23, pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court to the murder of James Collins, 21, after a judge ruled that a partial defence of loss of control could not be considered by the jury. Coughlan had previously denied the charge.
Student Admits Housemate’s Murder:
The attack took place on the evening of 8 April in the garden of the three-bedroom house the two men shared in Cleve Road, Filton, near Bristol. Both were final-year robotics students at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol). Collins, originally from Swansea, was cycling home from university when Coughlan, dressed entirely in black and wearing gloves, lay in wait and stabbed him repeatedly.
Prosecutors told the court the assault left Collins dying in an alleyway. Coughlan then took his housemate’s bicycle, rode away, dumped the bike at a nearby retail park, bought a change of clothes and disposed of his bloodstained clothing by weighing carrier bags with bricks and throwing them into a pond.
He later returned to the house, put a pizza in the oven and spent time playing online games with friends. In the early hours, he dialled emergency services and claimed he had just discovered Collins’s body in the rear garden. CCTV footage from the shared house, which Coughlan initially showed to police while presenting himself as a witness, later formed part of the evidence against him. Forensic analysis linked his blood to the victim’s bicycle and matched his phone movements to CCTV records of his movements after the killing. He had injuries to his hands that he initially attributed to falling while climbing trees.
Family Pays Tribute to Student Killed by Housemate:
Adam Vaitilingam KC, prosecuting, described the killing as “a carefully planned and cold-blooded execution.” Detective Chief Inspector Lucy Edgeworth, who led the investigation, said Coughlan had claimed he feared Collins and lost control, but no evidence supported that account. “Coughlan lied continuously to protect himself,” she said, noting that he had initially deceived friends, family and police.
In a statement released after the guilty plea, Collins’s family said his death had affected them “in a deep, profound, and lasting way.” They described him as a bright, kind and gentle young man who had almost completed his degree and was planning to return home to Swansea within weeks. “Our family has been sickened that Zack Coughlan pretended to help Jamie when in fact he is responsible for killing him,” the family said. “We even felt sympathy for Zack at the start… because of how he had initially deceived everyone.”
Collins was posthumously awarded a 2:1 degree. His family expressed gratitude for the support they had received from friends and the wider community during the court proceedings.
Coughlan, who is half Danish and grew up in Cork, Ireland, before moving to Bristol to study, is due to be sentenced. The case has drawn attention to the sudden and violent end of a young life just as both students approached the end of their university studies.