Student Accused of Stabbing Housemate 30 Times Before Cooking Pizza and Playing Video Games

A university student allegedly lay in wait for his housemate before launching a brutal knife attack that left the 21-year-old dead in the garden of their shared home, a court has heard. In a case that has stunned those following the trial, prosecutors claim the accused later disposed of evidence, returned home to cook a pizza and played video games before contacting emergency services around eight hours after the killing.

Zack Coughlan, 23, is accused of murdering Jamie Collins, 21, in Filton, South Gloucestershire, England, on April 8, 2026. Both men were final-year robotics students at the University of the West of England in Bristol and shared a house owned by Coughlan. According to prosecutors, Jamie was returning from university shortly before 6 p.m. when he was allegedly ambushed near the garden gate.

Jurors at Bristol Crown Court were shown CCTV footage that prosecutors say captured the attack. Coughlan was allegedly dressed in black and wearing a mask and gloves when he waited for Jamie to arrive. The prosecution alleges that he stabbed his housemate around 30 times before leaving him in the garden. The footage reportedly showed the accused taking Jamie’s bicycle shortly afterward and cycling away from the scene.

The court heard that Coughlan allegedly attempted to conceal his involvement by disposing of items connected to the attack. Prosecutors said he abandoned Jamie’s bicycle at a nearby retail park, bought a change of clothes and threw his bloodstained clothing into a pond. He later returned to the shared property, where he reportedly cooked himself a pizza and played online games. These alleged actions have become a significant part of the prosecution’s argument that the killing was planned rather than the result of a sudden loss of control.

In the early hours of April 9, approximately eight hours after the fatal attack, Coughlan called emergency services and reported that his friend had been stabbed and was not breathing. Prosecutors allege that he presented himself as someone who had only just discovered Jamie’s body. When officers arrived, they initially treated him as a witness. The court heard that he explained injuries to his hands by claiming he had climbed a tree and fallen.

However, investigators later examined CCTV footage, mobile-phone data and other evidence that prosecutors say linked Coughlan to the killing. The court was told that his movements were consistent with those captured on camera and that his blood had been found on Jamie’s bicycle. The evidence prompted police to focus their investigation on him, and he was subsequently charged with murder.

The two students had reportedly experienced disagreements over rent payments and whether Coughlan was charging too much. Prosecutors acknowledged that these disputes had previously been resolved, and friends had not been aware of any major ongoing conflict between the pair. Coughlan admits killing Jamie but denies murder. His defense is expected to argue that he lost control after feeling threatened by things Jamie had allegedly said during the weeks leading up to the incident. The prosecution strongly disputes that account, arguing that the alleged preparations and actions afterward demonstrate planning and control.

Jamie’s death has left his family and university community grieving a young man whose life ended while he was returning home from an ordinary day at university. As the trial continues, jurors must consider the CCTV footage, forensic evidence and competing accounts of what happened before and after the attack. The central question is whether the killing amounted to murder, as prosecutors allege, or whether the circumstances support the defendant’s claim that he lost control.

Source: The Sun