Man on trial accused of killing ex-teacher and dumping body

‘Money he had inherited’

A MAN has gone on trial accused of murdering a retired private school teacher in Scotland and dumping his body in England.

Paul Black, 65, is accused of killing Peter Coshan, a former biology teacher at Fettes College in Edinburgh, at his flat in the city on August 11 or 12, 2022, before disposing of his body near a layby in Northumberland.

He denies murdering Mr Coshan and pleaded not guilty to a string of other charges. Black is alleged to have made contact with Mr Coshan on gay dating site Gaydar and messaging service WhatsApp, and lured him to the property on Seafield Road, where it is claimed he killed him.

It is further alleged that he concealed the body for days before putting it in a suitcase and driving it to a layby in Northumberland. Charges allege that after attempting to dig a grave, Black dumped the body next to a wall, disposed of the suitcase and attempted to dispose of clothing and other items belonging to Mr Coshan.

At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, Ross Cook, who attended Fettes College in the 1970s while Mr Coshan was teaching there and saw him ‘quite regularly’ in the years before he died, said thieves targeted the 75-year-old in the months before he was killed.

He said at one meeting in 2022 Mr Coshan, who had Parkinson’s disease, told him he was having IT problems. Mr Cook, a former police officer, said: ‘He had allowed a friend or associate to try and sort out the problem for him, and that person had moved some money he had inherited since his mother’s death to an accessible account.’ He said that around £8,000 had been moved.

Charges allege that in the days after Mr Coshan’s death, Black made numerous cash withdrawals from the retired teacher’s bank account and used his bank cards to make a number of purchases.

Black has pleaded not guilty to all 18 charges.

The trial continues.