Scots teacher lured to his death after being catfished on dating app, killer tells court

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A retired Fettes College teacher was lured to his death after being catfished on a gay dating app by a man who stole thousands of pounds from him and spent it on a trip to Blackpool, a court heard.

Peter Coshan, 75, a retired biology teacher, was reported missing by friends in August 2022 and his younger 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 Mr Coshan.McNaughton claimed the killing was done by Black but his version of events was questioned by both prosecution and defence who suggested he was trying to minimise his involvement.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."He claimed Black put a bag over Mr Coshan's head to suffocate him and lay on top of his body, while McNaughton drank a Jack Daniels on the sofa and smoked a joint before the pair went for a walk and withdrew cash as well as letting themselves into the victim's house and going to McDonald's before continuing on a spending spree the next day.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 "random 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