Student Admits Murdering His 21-Year-Old Roommate After Stabbing Him 30 Times — Then Made Pizza and Played Video Games

A university student has admitted murdering his 21-year-old roommate after a brutal knife attack in the backyard of their shared home in England. Chilling CCTV footage presented in court showed how the victim was ambushed, while the killer’s actions in the hours that followed left investigators with disturbing questions about his behavior after the killing.

Zack Coughlan, 23, pleaded guilty to murdering Jamie Collins, a fellow robotics student at the University of the West of England in Bristol. According to The Sun, Coughlan had initially denied murder but changed his plea after a judge ruled that the jury could not consider his proposed partial defense of manslaughter due to loss of control.

Prosecutors told the court that Coughlan lay in wait before attacking Jamie, stabbing him approximately 30 times in the backyard of their shared home in Filton, near Bristol. CCTV footage also captured Coughlan wearing a mask as he ambushed his roommate in an alley.

The evidence presented at trial painted a disturbing picture of what allegedly happened afterward. Just minutes after the attack, Coughlan was reportedly seen taking Jamie’s bicycle and riding away. He was later captured on camera walking around campus, examining a bag, visiting several trash bins, and disposing of items of clothing.

The court also heard that he abandoned Jamie’s bicycle at a nearby retail park and threw bloodstained clothing into a pond, apparently attempting to conceal evidence of the crime.

In the hours following the killing, Coughlan returned home, made himself a pizza, and played video games. He later went back into the backyard, where Jamie’s body remained, before finally calling emergency services approximately eight hours after the attack.

During the call, Coughlan told the operator that his friend had been stabbed and was not breathing. When questioned by police about injuries to his hands, he claimed he had hurt himself after falling from a tree.

Investigators initially treated Coughlan as a witness before evidence connected him to the killing.

Both men were studying robotics and had lived together in a house owned by Coughlan. The court heard that they had previously disagreed over rent payments and whether Jamie was being charged too much, although those disputes were reportedly resolved.

Jamie’s family described him as a bright, kind, gentle young man who had been looking forward to completing his university studies and returning home to Swansea just weeks later. They believed he had a promising future ahead of him in engineering and robotics.

Instead, his life ended before he could realize those ambitions, leaving his loved ones devastated by the loss of a young man they said had so much to offer.

Coughlan is scheduled to be sentenced on October 21, 2026. His guilty plea brings the murder case to a significant turning point, while Jamie’s family continues to live with the consequences of a tragedy that has permanently changed their lives.

Source: The Sun