A university student who lay in wait for his housemate to return home before stabbing him 30 times in a “carefully planned and cold-blooded execution” has pleaded guilty to murder.
Zack Coughlan, 23, dressed all in black and wore a mask and gloves to ambush Jamie Collins, 21, in the garden of their home in Filton, South Gloucestershire.
Bristol Crown Court heard Mr Collins was stabbed repeatedly and Coughlan left him dying in the alleyway as he cycled away on his housemate’s bike.
Coughlan had denied murder but changed his plea to guilty after a legal ruling by the trial judge on Tuesday October 20.
Mr Justice Linden ruled Coughlan’s partial defence of manslaughter by reason of loss of control could not be left to the jury to consider as part of their deliberations on the murder charge.
He told the jury: “You will have just heard that the defendant has changed his plea to the indictment to guilty.
“That means that he now admits the charge of murder.”
He added: “I would like, on behalf of us all, to thank you for the service that you have given in this case.”
Coughlan, of Cleve Road, Filton, will be sentenced on Wednesday morning.
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