Man ‘stole retired teacher’s cash then planned murder’
Trial hears accused and an accomplice allegedly spent money on a holiday
ARETIRED Fettes College teacher was lured to his death after being catfished on a gay dating app by a man who then stole thousands of pounds from him and spent it on a trip to Blackpool, a court has heard.
Peter Coshan, 75, a retired biology teacher, was reported missing by friends in August 2022. His lover, Paul McNaughton, 29, pleaded guilty last year to murder and perverting the course of justice.
Paul Black, 65, is on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh where he denies murder and 17 other charges, including stealing a total of £50,000 from Mr Coshan between September 2021 and June 2022, and disposing of his body in Northumberland.
Giving evidence, McNaughton told the court how he and Black planned to murder the retired teacher.
McNaughton said: “Both of us decided something was going to happen when he came through the front door, he was going to be suffocated with a plastic bag put over his head.”
McNaughton told the court he was “fed up” with messages from Mr Coshan and set up a profile on
Gaydar on July 26, 2022, using a picture of a “random [guy] off the internet” and claimed it was planned “a couple of days before Peter was murdered”.
He added: “We had decided to get Peter to come to Paul’s house, then we were going to do it. I was fed up with having to keep doing sexual favours and not getting anything from it.
“There were text messages on my phone which the police have got, saying I had to do sexual favours for a year or he was going to go to police and say I’d stolen the money.”
McNaughton told the court that he was living with Black, whom he sometimes referred to as Joe, for five or six months in 2022, before being arrested on suspicion of murder on August 16.
Appearing from custody in HMP Edinburgh, McNaughton said he moved in with Black as he struggled to find a landlord who would accept a dog and a cat, and that he slept in the living room on the sofa-bed of Black’s one-bedroom flat in Seafield Road, Leith.
McNaughton told the court he met Mr Coshan via Gaydar – which he described as a “hook-up app” – around a year before, and said: “He offered me money for sexual favours.”
He said he gained access to Mr Coshan’s savings accounts without his knowledge, after finding handwritten bank details beside a computer, and admitted knowing that £102,000 was in the accounts.
On September 2021, some £8000 was transferred from Mr Coshan’s bank account without his knowledge, and McNaughton told the court yesterday that Black spoke to the bank “because Joe sounds a lot older, so obviously he could speak to these people on the phone”.
Two days later, McNaughton transferred a total of £30,000 from Mr Coshan’s account, and said he went on a trip to Blackpool with Black, after the initial theft.
Advocate depute John Keenan KC said: “What happened to the £8000?”
McNaughton responded: “It got spent, by me and Paul Black. We went to Blackpool. Joe knew it came from Mr Coshan’s bank, because I had said to him.”
He added: “I think we were just talking about it, then called up the bank to see if it would work and it did work, then Mr Black went into the bank to collect the money.
“We just spoke about it, we were sitting one morning having a coffee.”
McNaughton told the court when Mr Coshan realised the money was missing, he sent him a message, then blocked him and unblocked him.
The court heard that in June 2022, a further £15,000 and £17,000 were taken from Mr Coshan’s account without his knowledge.
McNaughton told the court when Mr Coshan realised, he demanded sexual favours for a year in return.
He said: “I received a text message from Peter. It said basically he knew I had took the money so he wasn’t giving me any more money for up to a year. He said he had to do sexual favours for a year to clear the money that was due to him.”
Keenan said: “In any event, what you came to learn at that point was that Peter wasn’t going to give you any more money.”
McNaughton said: “No, he was still giving me money. He said he wasn’t giving me any more money, but he still did give me money.”
McNaughton admitted sending an associate an image of a balaclava and making a reference to £102,000, which the court heard was the amount in Mr Coshan’s bank account.
The trial, before Judge Lord Scott, continues.