In a court hearing, it was revealed that a retired teacher from Fettes College was enticed to his demise after being deceived on a gay dating app by an individual who swindled thousands of pounds from him.
Peter Coshan, 75, a former biology instructor, was reported missing by friends in August 2022. Last year, his younger partner, Paul McNaughton, admitted to murder and obstructing justice.
Paul Black, 65, is currently standing trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, where he refutes charges of murder and 17 additional counts, including stealing a total of £50,000 from Dr. Coshan between September 2021 and June 2022, as well as disposing of his body in Northumberland.
During his testimony, McNaughton, 29, detailed how he and Black conspired to kill Dr. Coshan, known as “Doc Cosh” during his tenure at Fettes, w
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.”
The witness told the court he was “fed up” with messages from Dr Coshan and set up a profile on Gaydar, a gay dating app, on July 26 2022, using a picture of a “random off the internet”.
The term “catfishing” describes the act of enticing someone into a relationship by fabricating a false identity.
McNaughton further explained, “We had planned for Peter to come to Paul’s house, and then we were going to carry out the act. I was tired of constantly performing sexual favors without receiving anything in return.”
He testified that he had resided with Black, whom he occasionally called Joe, for five or six months in 2022 before being arrested on suspicion of murder on August 16 of that same year.
McNaughton told the court he met Dr Coshan through Gaydar, which he had described as a “hook-up app” the previous year, and said: “He offered me money for sexual favours.”
He revealed that he gained unauthorized access to Dr. Coshan’s savings accounts upon discovering handwritten bank details next to a computer.
McNaughton confessed to being aware of £102,000 held in the accounts. In September 2021, £8,000 was illicitly transferred from Dr. Coshan’s bank account.
Two days later, McNaughton transferred a total of £30,000 from Dr. Coshan’s account and acknowledged going on a trip to Blackpool with Black following the initial theft.
McNaughton informed the court that when Dr. Coshan realized the money was missing, he initially messaged him, then blocked and unblocked him. He testified that when Dr. Coshan became aware, he demanded sexual favors in return for a year.
Giving evidence, 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 [I] had to do sexual favours for a year to clear the money that was due to him.”
