Student jailed for life for 30-stab murder of housemate in Filton, Gloucestershire

Zack Coughlan, 23, ambushed Jamie Collins in their shared garden, then called 999 claiming to have found the body. He was sentenced to life with a minimum of 28 years.

University student sentenced to life for premeditated killing of housemate

A 23-year-old university student has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 28 years for stabbing his housemate 30 times in the garden of their shared home in Filton, South Gloucestershire, The Guardian UK reports.

Zack Coughlan dressed in black and put on a mask and gloves before lying in wait for Jamie Collins, 21, to return from his university campus on the evening of 8 April. Collins had been cycling home from the University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol, where both men were final-year robotics students, when he was attacked shortly before 6pm.

Coughlan left Collins dying in an alleyway and cycled away on his housemate's bike. He later dumped the bicycle at a nearby retail park, bought a change of clothes and disposed of his bloodstained garments in a pond, weighted down in carrier bags filled with bricks.

He returned to the house at around 9pm, placed a pizza in the oven and spent time gaming online with friends. At approximately 2am, Coughlan dialled 999, claiming he had just discovered Collins's body in the garden. Attending officers initially treated him as a witness.

CCTV footage installed at the property captured the attack. Coughlan himself showed the footage to police upon their arrival. Forensic evidence subsequently linked him to the crime: his blood was found on Collins's bike, and mobile phone data matched his movements to footage recorded on CCTV cameras in the area. He also had injuries to his hands, which he explained to acquaintances by claiming he had fallen while climbing trees.

In the days following the murder, Coughlan told a university friend he wanted to organise a memorial for Collins.

Coughlan had denied murder and a trial was under way at Bristol Crown Court before he changed his plea to guilty on Tuesday. Sentencing him on Wednesday, Mr Justice Linden said Collins "was caught totally unaware by you and was utterly defenceless." The judge dismissed Coughlan's claim that Collins had previously threatened him, describing the victim as a "gentle soul," and said no one would ever know Coughlan's true motive for the killing.

Adam Vaitilingam KC, prosecuting, had told the jury: "This was a carefully planned and cold-blooded execution."

Collins, originally from Swansea, and Coughlan shared a £300,000 three-bedroom house owned by the defendant. Coughlan, who is half Danish, grew up in Cork, Ireland, before moving to Bristol to study at the age of 19.

In a statement released after Coughlan's change of plea, Collins's family said his death had "affected our family in a deep, profound, and lasting way." They added: "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."

Source: The Guardian UK