Student admits murdering his housemate in a 'cold-blooded execution' after stabbing him 30 times in a masked ambush

Zack Coughlan, 23, changed his plea to guilty seven days into his Bristol Crown Court trial, after a judge ruled out his loss-of-control defence. He ambushed Jamie Collins, 21, in black clothes, a mask and gloves on April 8, after a row over the rent he charged him. CCTV that Coughlan had installed himself filmed the attack. He waited until about 2am to call 999.

Prosecutor Adam Vaitilingam KC called the killing 'a carefully planned and cold-blooded execution'.

Coughlan dumped his bloodstained clothes in a pond, in bags weighed down with bricks.

Four days earlier, he had called police claiming knife-carrying 'roadmen' were behind the house.