A MAN convicted of murdering a retired Fettes College teacher has told jurors of the moment the pensioner lost his life after being ‘lured’ to a property.
Paul McNaughton, 29, spoke of how Peter Coshan, 75, died at the flat that he shared with 65-year-old Paul Black – who is also accused of murdering the pensioner.
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The High Court in Edinburgh heard McNaughton say on Tuesday afternoon he created a fake profile on dating app Gaydar and sent messages to Mr Coshan asking him to meet up.
The court earlier heard McNaughton say that he had earlier met Mr Coshan on Gaydar and that the former teacher had paid him money to perform sexual favours on him.
A jury heard how McNaughton say that on the the evening of August 11 2022, he posed as somebody else and sent Mr Coshan WhatsApp messages asking him to come to his flat in Seafield Road, Edinburgh.
Mr Coshan then turned up at the property shortly before midnight.
McNaughton said that he and Paul Black then put a plan that they had earlier devised to kill Mr Coshan into action.
The court had earlier heard McNaughton say that he and Mr Black had decided they were going to suffocate Mr Coshan with a plastic bag.
McNaughton said his home was in “complete darkness” when Mr Coshan turned up.
He added : “Peter turned up at the door. He chapped the door. Mr Black opened the front door and closed it behind him as Peter was walking through the hallway.
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“Mr Black then placed the plastic bag over his head. I was standing at the kitchen door.”
He said that Mr Coshan was taken into a bedroom.
McNaughton added: “Peter was pushed onto the bed and Mr Black lay on top of him so he couldn’t move.
“After a few moments Mr Black got off of Peter and there was no movement from Peter.
“After it I had a can of Jack Daniels and had a cannabis joint. We then left the flat.
“We left Peter in the flat – obviously he was deceased. He was lying on top of the bed.”
McNaughton was giving evidence on the fourth day of proceedings against Mr Black, of Leith, Edinburgh, who denies murdering Mr Coshan and charges of attempting to defeat the ends of justice, fraud and theft.
On Tuesday, McNaughton told Mr Keenan that he and Mr Black wrapped Mr Coshan’s body in a duvet and placed him under the bed in Mr Black’s room. He said they took Mr Coshan’s keys, mobile phone and a tablet.
He said that after they had left their flat, they went around to Mr Coshan’s house in the city’s South Learmonth Gardens to put on his lights and close his blinds.
Asked to explain why he and Mr Black did this, McNaughton added:
“So people would think he was in the house sleeping.”
The court heard that the pair went to various cash machines in the city and withdrew money from Mr Coshan’s bank accounts.
McNaughton also purchased 5,000 Euros using Mr Coshan’s funds.
The court heard that the pair also went for a walk in Edinburgh City Centre in the hours after Mr Coshan dying. They visited a McDonald’s restaurant.
The court heard that people started texting Mr Coshan’s mobile phone after he died.
McNaughton said he “panicked” and responded to them.
He also told the court that after Mr Coshan died, police visited their flat to inquire about his whereabouts. The retiree’s remains were still under the bed at this point.
McNaughton told the court that he and Mr Black then bought a car.
He said he couldn’t drive it because he had been given a six year ban.
They returned to their flat in Leith and then placed Mr Coshan’s remains in a suitcase they had taken from a friend’s house.
McNaughton added: “We placed Mr Coshan into the suitcase. We squeezed him into it.
“We couldn’t get him into it. His legs were hanging out of it. We then placed him into the boot of the car.”
The court heard that they drove Mr Coshan’s remains to a location in Northumberland. They stopped at a lay by on the side of the road.
He added: “We stopped at the side of the road at the lay by and placed the body against the side of the wall and placed greenery around it.”
The court heard that the two men then returned to Edinburgh. On the following night, McNaughton said Black drove back to the location in the north of England with shovels to dig a hole to place Mr Coshan’s body into.
He added: “We stuck one of the shovels into the ground but the ground was too hard.
“We put the spades back into the car and drove back home.
“We never touched the body again.”
The court also heard that McNaughton had previous convictions for fire raising.
Defence advocate Tony Lenehan KC referred to evidence given earlier in proceedings – a witness said that Mr Black was “besotted” with McNaughton.
When Mr Lenehan asked McNaughton whether his client was “head over heels” in love with him, McNaughton said no.
Mr Lenehan also asked McNaughton that it was his client’s position that they had never planned to kill Mr Coshan and that it wasn’t a “joint enterprise.”
Mr Lenehan said: “This is your business isn’t it?”
McNaughton replied: “No.’
McNaughton later said: “He was involved. Mr Black was aware. He knew exactly what was going on.”
He said that Mr Black personally benefited from Mr Coshan dying.
He added: “Mr Black got a brand new television, a brand new phone. He got an iPad.”
Mr Keenan then asked McNaughton to clarify what happened.
McNaughton replied; “I didn’t put the bag over his head. I lured him to the property.”
Prosecutors claim that on August 11 or August 12 2022, at a property in Seafield Road in Edinburgh, Mr Black, whilst acting with another, assaulted Mr Coshan and by “means unknown” inflicted an injury on him “whereby he bled”.
It is claimed that Mr Black then struggled with Mr Coshan and that he “did murder him”.
It is also alleged that Mr Black pretended to Police Scotland officers who investigating the whereabouts of Mr Coshan that he was not known to him and had not “attended” the property in Seafield Road, Edinburgh on August 11 2022.
Mr Black is also alleged to have purchased “bleach, air freshener” and “various cleaning products, two washing lines, two spades and a duvet” in the time following Mr Coshan’s death.
The Crown claims that on the evening of August 14 2022 and early on August 15 2022, Mr Black drove a motor vehicle from Edinburgh to an area on the A696 past Otterburn, Northumberland, before he returned in the vehicle to Edinburgh.
Prosecutors claim that Mr Black recovered the body of Mr Coshan from its “place of concealment”, place a body in a suitcase and hide it in the boot of a car.
It’s claimed that Mr Black then drove to a lay by between Otterburn and Belsay near to the junction of Capheaton, Northumberland, and removed the case from the boot before attempting to dig a grave.
The Crown claims that Mr Black did this to “avoid detection, arrest and prosecution” for the alleged murder of Mr Coshan.
The legal document states that Mr Black did this with the “intent to defeat the ends of justice” and that he attempted to “defeat the ends of justice.”
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He also faces theft and fraud charges. He has entered not guilty pleas to the allegations
The trial, before Lord Scott, continues on Wednesday.