Zack Coughlan to spend 28 years in prison for stabbing university housemate

Zack Coughlan received a life sentence with a minimum term of 28 years on October 28 for the murder of Jamie Collins in Filton. The 23-year-old student at the University of the West of England stabbed his 21-year-old housemate approximately 30 times on April 8. Collins had just returned to their shared residence after studying robotics. Coughlan left the scene to dispose of evidence before cooking a pizza and playing video games. He contacted police at 2:00 a.m. the following morning, falsely stating he had discovered the body. He maintained this lie throughout the investigation and early trial stages, asserting that Collins had made him fear for his life. Mr. Justice Linden ruled the defense of loss of control was inadmissible, prompting Coughlan to change his plea from not guilty to guilty.

Timothy Mealing was sentenced to 32.5 years in prison on October 19 for 24 sexual offences against four girls. The court also imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and restraining orders. One survivor told the court that her childhood was stolen by the abuse. She addressed Mealing directly, stating, "I grew up way too soon because of you; way too fast. You did things to me that were supposed to be left to adults. You stole that from me and you did that to me, which wasn’t fair. My childhood was stolen from me."

Wayne Milsom from Keynsham was sentenced to 15 years in prison on October 21 for the manslaughter of 72-year-old Stephen Ridgeway. Milsom and an accomplice entered Ridgeway's home on Tenby Road on November 3, 2024, seeking drugs and money. They forced the pensioner into his kitchen, threatening him with a knife and striking him with a hammer. Ridgeway was hospitalized and died on December 7, 2024. Judge Julian Lambert noted a clear causal link between the chest trauma and the victim's rapid respiratory decline. The judge described the attack as cruel, callous, and calculated, emphasizing the vulnerability of the elderly victim in his own home.

Yasmeen Ali, 44, was issued an indefinite hospital order for the manslaughter of her three children in Sea Mills in February 2024. The victims were Fares Bash, age seven, Joury Bash, age three, and Mohammed Bash, who was nine months old. Ali pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. Psychiatric evidence presented to the court indicated that her actions were almost entirely attributable to a mental disorder. She attempted to take her own life following the incident.

Three men from London, Terroll Paul, Mohamed Samagassi, and Pierre Madzou, received sentences of at least five years each on October 15 for aggravated burglary. They broke into a Bristol home on May 15 to demand cryptocurrency. The victim sustained a head injury requiring hospital treatment. His teenage sister alerted police, leading to arrests at the scene. In a statement, the victim said he was constantly frightened and paranoid, noting that the incident turned him from a bubbly person into someone tense and apprehensive.

Kurt Buxton was jailed for 18 months for headbutting Robin Beard outside the Wellington Pub in Horfield on October 18, 2025. Beard, walking with his daughter, told Buxton to stop urinating in public. After a brief argument, Buxton followed them, headbutting and shoving Beard, which knocked out two of his front teeth and sent him into traffic. Beard broke two bones in his lower back during the fall.

Peter Soares received a suspended two-and-a-half-year prison sentence on October 24 for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in May 2022. The director of a cleaning company cornered the victim in a bathroom, touching her breasts and genitals through her clothing. He later guided her hands to his penis through his trousers. The court found the incident had a devastating and long-lasting impact on the girl's mental health.

Neil Chiddy was sentenced to 25 years in prison on October 15 for sexual offenses committed in Wiltshire and the Bath and North East Somerset area. The 49-year-old was arrested in the West Midlands in November 2022 after a victim disclosed the abuse to their family. Three victims, including two children and one adult woman, reported assaults over several years.