Jurors were shown CCTV of the moment a university student was allegedly stabbed 30 times in his own garden and left to die.
Footage of the ‘carefully planned and cold-blooded execution’ was captured in Filton, South Gloucestershire, on April 8 this year.
Jamie Collins, 21, was ambushed by his housemate Zack Coughlan, 23, in the garden of their home shortly before 6pm, Bristol Crown Court heard.
The pair were said to have previously rowed over the amount of rent Coughlan was charging Mr Collins.
Mr Collins, originally from Swansea, was allegedly stabbed repeatedly – with Coughlan leaving him to die in the alleyway as he cycled away on his housemate’s bicycle, dressed in black and wearing a mask.
Coughlan, of Cleve Road, Filton, is said to accept that he killed Mr Collins – but he denies murder.
Mr Collins was attacked shortly after returning from the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), where he was studying robotics alongside his killer.
Coughlan then dumped the bike at a nearby retail park, bought a change of clothes and threw his bloodstained clothing in a pond.
Footage of the ‘carefully planned and cold-blooded execution’ was captured in Filton, South Gloucestershire, on April 8 this year
Mr Collins, originally from Swansea, was allegedly stabbed repeatedly – with Coughlan leaving him to die in the alleyway as he cycled away on his housemate’s bicycle
Jamie Collins (pictured) was stabbed to death in the garden of the university home where he lived with Zack Coughlan, 23, who is now on trial accused of his murder
He later returned to the house they shared in Cleve Road, which had three CCTV cameras, at around 9pm before going for a walk and bike ride just before 12.45am on April 9, jurors previously heard.
Separate footage played to the jury showed Coughlan going into the garden with a torch at 2.06am, with Mr Collins seen lying on the ground in the gateway.
Coughlan rang police at 2.07am to report that his friend had been stabbed.
On Tuesday, jurors were shown footage from the days leading up to the incident and days after by Helen Bartlett, a CCTV and video investigator.
At 5.58pm, Mr Collins is seen arriving at the garden gate with his bike before he is fatally attacked.
In court, Coughlan looked down and wiped his eyes as the footage was played, while members of Mr Collins’ family left the public gallery after watching the video.
Adam Vaitilingam KC, prosecuting, told jurors on Monday that Coughlan – who showed officers the CCTV of the fatal attack – was initially treated as a witness.
However, an investigation by Avon and Somerset Police revealed ‘clear evidence’ Coughlan had been the killer and he was arrested before being charged with murder, Mr Vaitilingam said.
Bodyworn camera footage of the police arriving on the scene of the murder shows Coughlan after he called police in the early hours of the morning
Coughlan had gone into the garden with a torch at 2.06am where MR Collins was left lying on the ground in the gateway
The court heard Coughlan and Mr Collins were both final year robotics students at UWE Bristol and lived in the house, which was owned by the defendant.
There had previously been disagreements about paying rent and whether Coughlan was charging too much but these had been resolved, Mr Vaitilingam added.
He said Coughlan accepts he killed Mr Collins and has admitted manslaughter but will tell the court he had ‘lost control of himself’ and was in fear for his life in the lead-up to the attack.
However, Mr Vaitilingam told jurors the case involved a ‘carefully planned and cold–blooded execution’.
‘Far from being out of control, Zack was very much in control of what he did, and you will see that as we show you his movements in the hours and minutes before he killed Jamie,’ he said on Monday.
‘His actions afterwards, disposing of his clothes, pretending he had been climbing trees so as to explain knife cuts to his hands, coming home and playing online games with his friends, looking at the CCTV app on his phone, trying to deceive the police when he called them at 2am.
‘Those were further acts of someone very much in control.’
Coughlan denies murder. The trial continues.
