- Zack Coughlan, 23, has admitted to the murder of his 21-year-old housemate James Collins after changing his plea to guilty during his trial at Bristol Crown Court following a legal ruling by the judge.
- The court heard that Coughlan dressed in black and lay in wait in the garden of their shared home in Filton, South Gloucestershire, before stabbing Collins 30 times in what prosecutors described as a “carefully planned and cold-blooded execution”.
- Following the attack on 8 April, Coughlan fled on his victim's bicycle, disposed of bloodstained clothing in a weighted bag inside a pond, and later dialled 999 claiming he had just discovered the body.
- Mr Justice Linden ruled that Coughlan's partial defence of manslaughter by reason of loss of control could not be left to the jury to consider, prompting the defendant to change his plea.
- Both men were final-year robotics students at UWE Bristol, and Coughlan is due to be sentenced on Wednesday morning.
IN FULL
