A university student fatally stabbed his housemate after “he told me he wanted to kill me”, a court has heard. Zack Coughlan, 23, admits manslaughter but denies murdering Swansea man Jamie Collins, 21, by the garden of their home in Filton, south Gloucestershire, on April 8.
He is alleged to have dressed all in black and worn gloves and a mask to ambush Mr Collins, who was planning on moving back to Swansea after his studies were finished, before stabbing the robotics student 30 times.
Loss of control defence
Bristol Crown Court was previously told that Coughlan accepts he killed Mr Collins but is putting forward the partial defence of loss of control.
On Friday, Coughlan gave evidence to the jury and claimed Mr Collins had become increasingly hostile towards him over the months leading up to the fatal attack. The court heard that Coughlan owned the three-bedroom property, worth £300,000, where they lived and he charged rent of £650 per month plus bills to Mr Collins and another housemate.
Coughlan told jurors that Mr Collins had left-wing views, which were anti-capitalist and anti-landlord, and became angry about being charged rent. The defendant described their relationship as becoming “pretty bad” – despite him removing the rent charge from January – and said he asked Mr Collins to leave the house on April 7.
Threat with kitchen knife
“He had a kitchen knife in his hand and he told me he wanted to kill me,” Coughlan said. “He said that what I was doing was disgusting and that I was scum and that he looked forward to killing me and people like me.
“I was so frightened. He said it angrily and in a quiet tone. He hated me so much. I had no idea. I tried so hard to work things out with him. I didn’t understand how much he hated me.”
Coughlan said he fled to his bedroom and locked his door before hiding under the bed covers. He told the jury he had not contacted police after losing confidence in them following an incident earlier in April, when he had disturbed people at the back of his property and had been threatened with a knife.
The defendant said he did not ask housemate Charlie Latimer for help and had not messaged or telephoned other friends or family. “What could they have done apart from calling the police?” he added. “He knew where I was going for graduation. He knew where I lived, where my family lived.”
Background and trial continues
Coughlan said he spoke to Mr Collins the following day, before he left to go to university. “I asked him if he meant what he said,” he told the jury. “He said yes. He said locking my door wasn’t going to help. That was the last thing that we said to each other. I was terrified. I didn’t know what to do. He hated me. I saw no other way to protect myself. I never wanted to hurt anyone.”
Coughlan looked at Mr Collins’ family in the public gallery and wept: “I’m so sorry.”
The court heard that Coughlan is half Danish and grew up with his family in Cork, Ireland, before moving to Bristol to study robotics at the age of 19. He described suffering violence at the hands of his father while growing up and said his mother, who worked for Apple, was often away working.
Coughlan said he was a “high achiever” and was expecting to graduate with a first-class degree, but became “stressed and overwhelmed” in the weeks leading up to Mr Collins’ death. In July 2024, his mother lent him £300,000 to purchase a three-bedroom house in Cleve Road, Filton, where he lived with two fellow robotics students.
In January 2025, he spoke to Mr Collins after noticing he was becoming “hostile”, and his housemate replied that it was “disgusting to charge your friends rent”, Coughlan told the court. Coughlan described Mr Collins as “quite far left” in his political views and said his housemate would approach him to debate issues including large corporations, individuals such as Bill Gates and land ownership.
“He suggested some of these people should be shot – Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Elon Musk,” Coughlan told the jury. “He said he wanted to pour acid down Elon Musk’s throat. I thought this was a horrific description, it disturbed me quite deeply.”
Coughlan said he noticed a large chemical bottle in Mr Collins’ bedroom and was told it was acid. “It disturbed me, to be honest. I was scared,” he told the jury.
The court previously heard that Coughlan waited in an alley for 20 minutes before Mr Collins returned from university, then fatally attacked him shortly before 6pm. He called police shortly after 2am on April 9, reporting that his friend had been stabbed. Coughlan, of Cleve Road, Filton, south Gloucestershire, denies murder. The trial continues.
