Man who catfished and murdered retired Fettes College teacher jailed for life

A man who admitted murdering a retired Fettes College teacher in a catfishing plot has been sentenced to life in prison.

Paul McNaughton killed 75-year-old Peter Coshan in a flat in Leith on either August 11 or 12 2022, after using a fake profile on a gay hook-up site to lure him to the address.

McNaughton first met the retired biology teacher online in 2021 and proceeded to steal tens of thousands of pounds from him after gaining access to his bank accounts.

When Mr Coshan found out about the thefts, he threatened to go to the police unless McNaughton provided him with free sexual favours, and McNaughton hatched a plot to kill the retired teacher after becoming “fed up” with the situation.

Following the killing, McNaughton, along with his flatmate Paul Black, 65, hid the pensioner’s body until about August 15, when they put it in a suitcase and drove it to a layby on the A696 between Otterburn and Belsay in Northumberland, where they dumped it next to a wall.

McNaughton, who admitted murder and attempting to pervert the course of justice in 2023 before Black’s trial, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 22 years behind bars when he was sentenced at Glasgow High Court on Monday.

Black was cleared of murder following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in May, with the jury returning a not proven verdict.

However, during the trial he admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice and was sentenced to five and a half years.