Student who murdered university housemate jailed for life
A 23-year-old university student has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 28 years for murdering his university housemate near Bristol. The offender initially blamed masked attackers before pleading guilty during the trial.
Why it matters
Demonstrates the severe consequences of violent crime within student communities and highlights the legal system's handling of homicide cases.
Image source, Family photo via PA Media Image caption, Jamie Collins (pictured) was ambushed and killed after returning home from university
A student has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 28 years for murdering his university housemate after lying in wait and stabbing him 30 times.
Zack Coughlan, 23, ambushed Jamie Collins, 21, in the garden of their home near Bristol on 8 April and left him dying in the alleyway to dispose of bloodstained evidence. He called police eight hours later.
Coughlan had denied murder and a trial was under way at Bristol Crown Court but he changed his plea to guilty on Tuesday .
In a statement read in court, Collins' step-mother Lisa Jane Collins said his death had "affected our family in a deep, lasting and profound way. From now on, we will always be the couple whose boy got murdered".
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