The Good Teacher | Fatal Fraud | Forensic Files

[audio logo] [exhilarating music] NARRATOR:<i> Every fraud</i> <i> begins with a promise,</i>
<i> but most don't end in a murder.</i> BRYANNA FOX: They are the victim of financial crime.
Now, all of a sudden, they're at high risk of being the victim of a murder. NARRATOR:<i> A quick fortune, easy</i> <i> money or a life torn apart.</i>
RHODA MORRISON: He'd been reported missing, and he'd last been seen shortly before midnight.
- This is obviously a very distressing time for Peter's family, and our priority is to find him.
NARRATOR:<i> But behind</i> <i> these illusions</i> <i> lie calculated</i> <i> deceptions, carefully</i>
<i> hidden in plain sight.</i> DAVID SWINDLE: What started off as a fraudulent intention
to gain money from a vulnerable man escalated with greed. BRYANNA FOX: And these types of offenders
tend to be more cunning, manipulative, and tend to think they're better than law enforcement.
NARRATOR:<i> Sometimes</i> <i> these criminals</i> <i> are backed into a corner</i> <i> and feel their only way out</i>
<i> is to kill.</i> FIONA HOTSTON MOORE: Fraud is quite regular and fraudsters move into murder.
In my experience, it's usually driven by desperation or greed. - People think they get rid of the body,
they would get caught. You will, because everyone leaves a trace. [exhilarating music]
- So I'm Detective Superintendent Andrew Patrick of the Major Investigation Team for Police Scotland.
This is obviously a very distressing time for Peter's family, and our priority is to find him.
NARRATOR:<i> On August</i> <i> 12, 2022, police</i> <i> announced they were</i> <i> searching for a missing</i>
<i> person in the Scottish</i> <i> capital city of Edinburgh.</i> RHODA MORRISON: We get missing person reports
from police pretty much on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times a day. They're often teenagers, elderly people,
but also quite a lot of middle aged people go missing across Edinburgh and the Lothians and across Scotland
as well. NARRATOR:<i> The report named</i> <i> the missing man as 75-year-old</i>
<i> Peter Coshan, who had last been</i> <i> seen on Thursday, August 11.</i> RHODA MORRISON: I'm Rhoda Morrison,
I've been a journalist for eight years, and I'm currently the editor at the Edinburgh Evening News.
He'd been reported missing and he'd last been seen shortly before midnight in Seafield Road in Edinburgh,
and the police were appealing for information. That's fairly straightforward for a missing person's
report from the police. DAVID SWINDLE: Peter Coshan was an academic-- a well-respected academic that taught
in a prestigious college. RHODA MORRISON: We found out that he was a teacher at Fettes College in Edinburgh.
And that sparked our interest because it was obvious that a lot of people in the city would know who he was,
and that he would be quite a well-known character. NARRATOR:<i> Fettes College</i> <i> is a very famous school</i>
<i> in the center of Edinburgh.</i> <i> Peter taught students</i> <i> from the ages of 13 to 18.</i>
- I'm David Swindle. I was a former senior detective-- for murder detective in the old Strathclyde Police.
Dr. Peter Coshan was a biology teacher. He was well respected and well known. RHODA MORRISON: He was a really dedicated teacher from what
his former pupil said. A very, very popular teacher. A lot of them described him as a true gentleman
said that he'd really taken them under his wing. DAVID WRIGHT: I'm David Wright, and
I was a pupil at Fettes College between 1981 and 1985. When I first met Peter, he was my assistant housemaster,
and he came across as being a very caring, responsible adult. And I suppose he was my first point of contact
as an adult within that school. RHODA MORRISON: He was known for after school tutoring and stuff.
He really believed that he wanted students to be able to have a really good start in life.
DAVID SWINDLE: He was a person that was a very private person, very intelligent.
NARRATOR:<i> Dr. Coshan retired</i> <i> from the school in 2005.</i> <i> As well as teaching, he had</i> <i> led the Duke of Edinburgh award</i>
<i> scheme for over 30 years.</i> DAVID WRIGHT: Given that most of his working life
had been based in that school, he had lots of contacts, he had lots of friends who were teachers,
and he liked and enjoyed living the Edinburgh life. RHODA MORRISON: He lived alone.
His family lived quite far away. Although he was a very popular man, known by quite a lot of folk, he was quite alone
in the city in that sense. He was also obviously 75, elderly. He was quite vulnerable.
DAVID WRIGHT: He had a close bond with his family, and he particularly talked in his long and epic letters
about his aged mother, who used to take all over the country and sometimes all over the world on great adventures.
DAVID SWINDLE: He was someone that trusted people. He was a target, an easy target.
- I'm Dr. Bryanna Fox. I'm a psychological criminologist at the University of South Florida and
a former FBI Special Agent. He had a nice little retirement nest egg, but he was feeling alone.
He was looking for companionship. He was lonely. That's typically what a skilled conman will look for.
Somebody who wants to participate, someone who is less either cognitively sound financially, they have the ability to pay the money,
and they are just a vulnerable victim. NARRATOR:<i> Peter was active</i> <i> on several different websites</i>
<i> where he connected with</i> <i> people to arrange meeting</i> <i> them in person locally.</i>
DAVID SWINDLE: Peter Coshan was trusting. He doesn't know he's going to meet someone that
could be catfishing or trying to find someone who's vulnerable. And that's the sad reality of online.
NARRATOR:<i> In the summer of</i> <i> 2021, he met Paul McNaughton.</i> DAVID SWINDLE: Paul McNaughton is someone that was a lot
younger than Peter Coshan. He was in his 20s. And he met Peter Coshan online, and they
established a relationship. POPPY EVERTON: My name is Poppy. I work for Hourglass.
We are a national charity who support those age 60 and over dealing with harm, abuse, or neglect.
I do believe there is a very present stigma around older people seeking companionship, seeking that sort
of intimate connection. I think as a society, we have a lot of ageist views that can essentially create a lot of unconscious bias
in terms of what we may expect in those situations. A lot of older people are possibly
assumed to be asexual in the sense of they have no interest in seeking companionship.
DAVID SWINDLE: Paul McNaughton, he was someone that was a young guy in his 20s and this relationship developed,
and there was a lot of trust in that. BRYANNA FOX: One thing that we commonly see with fraud is that it doesn't
just go straight to the fraud. There are grooming behaviors that occur. First, they have to get the person
to trust them, either through in friendship or through some type of companionship,
a love relationship. And through that, the person thinks, why would this person try to take advantage of me,
especially if they're a vulnerable victim? POPPY EVERTON: Online predators are becoming more sophisticated, and
this is definitely a concern. Everyone is susceptible to fraud. It doesn't matter what age you are,
what gender, identity, what culture you may be from. It is something that is an issue across the board.
And no matter what you may feel or be as a person, there is a fraudster out there that
will prey on anything they can to try and make those connections and defraud you.
DAVID WRIGHT: Peter starting point was to trust people and to not expect the worst from people.
POPPY EVERTON: Older people may feel that they need support in terms of being able to access
online banking, and unfortunately, people who are aiming to defraud older people
will use this level of trust to gain those details. NARRATOR:<i> Soon after</i> <i> they met online,</i>
<i> Paul was visiting Peter</i> <i> at home and also helping</i> <i> him with any IT problems.</i>
- Peter Coshan trusted Paul McNaughton. He had the freedom to roam in the house.
He left paperwork lying around. BRYANNA FOX: McNaughton was a fraudster to begin with.
He had intention to engage in this relationship with what he saw as a well-to-do, wealthy, elderly man who
was looking for companionship. It had the makings of a vulnerable victimhood all over it.
NARRATOR:<i> By September</i> <i> 2021, McNaughton</i> <i> had logged into Peter's</i> <i> bank accounts</i>
<i> and could see that he</i> <i> had a lot of savings.</i> - Paul McNaughton saw bank information
that indicated that Dr. Coshan had 102,000 pounds in an account. And sadly, that would be the start of it.
NARRATOR: 75-year-old ex-teacher Dr. Peter Coshan had met 26-year-old Paul McNaughton
online, but he had no idea that McNaughton was a petty criminal whose eyes were set on his savings.
- When McNaughton met Dr. Coshan, he probably thought, here's this elderly man. I'm going to befriend him.
Not unlike a lot of other type of marriages where there is a large power and age differential,
we often look at them and think, why is this a mismatched couple coming together.
The fact that Peter had so much money in his bank account probably very enticing for McNaughton
who sees this and thinks this is my golden ticket. POPPY EVERTON: McNaughton used Peter's maybe lack of knowledge
or full understanding around online banking to steal and defraud money from him under the guise
of supporting him. NARRATOR:<i> McNaughton enlisted</i> <i> the help of his 62-year-old</i>
<i> roommate, Paul Black,</i> <i> to impersonate Dr. Coshan</i> <i> on the phone to the bank.</i>
- Paul Black was a man in his 60s, and he let Paul McNaughton move in with him. He was infatuated by Paul McNaughton.
Paul Black was an individual that just did whatever McNaughton asked him to do. POPPY EVERTON: Someone such as McNaughton,
who is using that guise of support, will set up maybe online banking without that older
person's knowledge. In this, they can also stop paper bank statements from arriving, which a lot of older people
do prefer in terms of being able to check over their records, have that physical copy.
And if those are stopped, often, this can be put off as issues with the bank. - McNaughton having seen the money that
was in Dr. Coshan account, created a fraudulent scheme to try and test the water to see if they can
get money from the account. NARRATOR:<i> Paul McNaughton had</i> <i> started using Peter's cards</i>
<i> to not only withdraw</i> <i> large amounts of cash,</i> <i> but also to spend on them.</i>
<i> If he got challenged,</i> <i> he had a plan.</i> - There are security measures set up
in terms of online banking and telephone banking, where things are passworded if that has been put into place.
However, remembering those passwords may be the concern and having that written down, someone accessing that,
it can then become quite easy for somebody to potentially pretend to be that person.
As in Peter's case, an older sounding person called the bank and essentially pretended to be Peter to gain further access
to the bank account. DAVID SWINDLE: Sadly, identity fraud is becoming more and more common.
They were able to get 8,000 pounds out of that account. NARRATOR:<i> By using</i> <i> Peter's cards,</i>
<i> McNaughton may have</i> <i> thought he was untraceable.</i> - My name is Fiona Hotston Moore,
and I'm a forensic accountant and expert witness. Every transaction that someone does, all the money
that they spend and how they spend it leaves a trail. It can be found and will be found,
particularly now with forensic technology, with CCTV, and so on. So if you are spending the money, there will be a trail.
RHODA MORRISON: They obviously thought there was going to be no consequences. They went on a spending spree with Peter Coshan money,
but they did take out 8,000 pounds then go down to Blackpool. NARRATOR:<i> Both Paul</i> <i> McNaughton and Paul Black</i>
<i> proceeded to spend their</i> <i> illicit money in reckless and</i> <i> frivolous ways.</i>
- This was the start of them splashing the cash. BRYANNA FOX: One of the hallmarks
of a fraudster, especially simplistic fraud like this is they're not stealing and then investing their money or managing it wisely.
They tend to steal it and just as easily squander it. This is what leads to this cycle
where they need more victims to support this lifestyle. And the reason that they often commit fraud
is because they can't support that lifestyle through any type of legal activities.
DAVID SWINDLE: When Paul McNaughton saw the money, they became greedy. And that's what happens with a lot of criminals.
They do something, they commit a crime, they make a lot of money, but they can't resist it.
They were going to make as much money as they could and bleed poor Dr. Coshan's account dry.
- Typically with simplistic fraud and by simplistic fraud, I mean, it is just taking money from a victim's bank account
that they inadvertently were given access to of the risk perception really goes down
when they are able to successfully get away with taking more and more sums each time
they update their risk perception and think, I could do it again. He didn't catch on to that.
I could do it again, maybe I'll take a slightly larger amount and a larger amount until eventually, it becomes
so much they got caught. DAVID SWINDLE: A few days after the successful withdrawing
the initial tester amount, McNaughton did it again, but this time, it was more substantial.
It was 30,000 pounds. BRYANNA FOX: At this point, the withdrawals from Dr. Coshan's account had grown to about a third
of his life savings. For the bank, they were not let on to the fact that this was fraudulent.
- In June 2022, 15,000 pounds and then 17,000 pounds. This is significant amounts of money and it's totaling up.
BRYANNA FOX: It appeared to be Peter taking money from his own account, doing it, and small intervals growing
up to this larger amount. But it's not that unusual, especially for retirees. Maybe he wanted to buy a new car or a boat,
or renovate his flat. There are rational explanations for why he would have done this.
NARRATOR:<i> Eventually,</i> <i> with over 60,000</i> <i> pounds missing from</i> <i> his account, Dr. Coshan</i>
<i> finally began to notice.</i> DAVID SWINDLE: Dr. Coshan had retired. He was relaxing.
He was enjoying the latter years of his life. He was enjoying that, and this was his life savings.
And when he found out that that had been taken from his account and that the person that was involved,
he suspected it was McNaughton. For him, that's devastating. - When that realization sets in,
you probably don't want to tell everyone and own up to the fact you've been taken in.
NARRATOR:<i> It seemed like</i> <i> Peter had no option but</i> <i> to confront McNaughton.</i>
BRYANNA FOX: After Dr. Coshan found out about all of this money that was taken from his account
without his consent, he was very upset. But what he had done at that point was block him online, only to seemingly unblock him
a little bit later, which suggests that McNaughton's gift of gab really got him out of trouble.
POPPY EVERTON: This is something that will likely come as a shock. It's a huge betrayal of trust.
In Peter's case, it may be that he felt there was no alternative but to continue
having those conversations. DAVID WRIGHT: I would have thought that Peter probably
never saw this coming. He wouldn't have realized that he would have been a target like this
FIONA HOTSTON MOORE: Peter Coshan had threatened to go to the police to report Paul McNaughton for the theft.
POPPY EVERTON: In Peter's situation, it would have been really challenging to know
where to go, who to speak to. And somebody like McNaughton is going to be playing on that connection that
may have been built up over time, which often will have manipulation tactics. Well, you don't want me to go to prison, do you?
You don't want the rest of my life to be affected. Think about everything I've done for you,
everything I've done to support you. Unfortunately, this can have severe consequences
when not reported. NARRATOR:<i> Peter</i> <i> had let McNaughton</i> <i> know that the money</i> <i> was missing,</i>
<i> but while he</i> <i> waited for answers,</i> <i> he probably didn't</i> <i> know where to turn.</i>
BRYANNA FOX: When I've spoken to victims of fraud, especially when they feel like they were defrauded by somebody
that they trusted, they really feel betrayed, but they also feel ashamed. They think, I trusted this person,
not only did they betray my trust, but I was dumb that I trusted them. And sometimes that self-blame leads the victim
to not want to tell family members, friends, even authorities, which really just
protects the offender, even if they're not intending to do that. But it just only helps the offender to get
away with this entirely. - And he would be thinking that, in his mind, someone has fraudulently taken money from my account.
He'd be hoping it was an error or something like that. He would be looking for the positive for it,
perhaps it was an error. But for him, he was conned. And it was an organized con.
And it was what McNaughton and Black. POPPY EVERTON: It's really hard to say as to whether Peter reporting would
have changed the situation. I would have hoped that it would. But ultimately, we never know what
people like McNaughton, who are predatory perpetrators and take this level of advantage are capable of.
And that is the difficulty in terms of reporting and reaching out for support is
fearing of the consequences. Even if I report to police, am I going to be safe? NARRATOR:<i> Peters</i> <i> family and friends were</i>
<i> unaware anything was wrong.</i> <i> On the 11th of August, Peter</i> <i> and one of his friends had been</i>
<i> out to the movies together.</i> <i> She had dropped him</i> <i> home at 10:50 PM.</i>
<i> On the morning</i> <i> of the 12th, several</i> <i> texts were sent from Peter's</i> <i> phone to friends and family.</i>
- There was a text message sent from Peter's phone where ultimately, it stated<i> phone playing up,</i>
<i> getting fix tom.</i> And he had abbreviated tomorrow. When Peter's friend received this,
they immediately contacted the police because this was out of character. Peter is not known to abbreviate.
He was a retired teacher and therefore took this sort of thing quite seriously, so they knew that that was not coming from Peter
and raised the alarm at that point. When an older person is reported missing, we need to look at that person's
unique vulnerabilities. Do they have health concerns? - When he attended my 50th birthday and it was clear that
he had Parkinson's, albeit he was becoming an older man, it was clear he wasn't treating him well.
NARRATOR:<i> Parkinson's</i> <i> disease meant</i> <i> that Peter's movement</i> <i> and speech could be slow,</i>
<i> but he was still</i> <i> mentally aware.</i> POPPY EVERTON: Police will definitely be looking
for last points of contact. Who has that person been in contact with recently? Are they friends, family, loved ones?
NARRATOR:<i> On August 12,</i> <i> following the concern</i> <i> from friends and with no</i> <i> sign of Peter at home,</i>
<i> the police issued</i> <i> a missing person's report</i> <i> and it was picked up</i> <i> by the Edinburgh press.</i>
- When we first heard that Peter had gone missing, it didn't seem out of the ordinary really at all.
He'd last been seen shortly before midnight in Seafield Road in Edinburgh. He was last seen with a walking stick.
He did seem a bit strange to us in the newsroom that a 75-year-old man had last been seen at 11:50 PM,
but particularly in Seafield Road in Edinburgh. And the police report had said that he'd
been seen a couple of hours before at his house in South Learmonth Gardens in Stockbridge.
Seafield Road is-- it's a bit of a connecting part of Edinburgh, so it's a bit-- it's industrial,
there's not all that much around. - The initial investigation is a missing person's one,
so they're thinking is there some reason he may have gone off? Is he OK? They may have thought that he had, due to his age,
had a health issue, heart attack. And something happened health wise to him. They wouldn't have immediately thought that there was
this broad financial scheme. DAVID SWINDLE: When the police have a missing person report,
the examiner concept called proof of life. It's actually, is that person alive? Most times, it's proof of death.
And the big stuff is like financial activity, mobile phone, text messages, all sorts
of other things like that. FIONA HOTSTON MOORE: We will look at the financial records,
we will look at the bank statements and we will follow the money. People's financial spending gives you an indication
of what they are. They tend to be fairly consistent in what they do. So if normally they spend 1,000 pounds a month on whatever
it is they spend it, they typically continue with that pattern. So normally if things change significantly,
you would want to go and investigate that. BRYANNA FOX: Police have very big red flags that something is sinister
about a missing persons case. Is he using his credit cards? Could that help link us to where he currently is at?
And when they see the amount of money that was withdrawn from his accounts so rapidly is when they think, OK, there's
probably more to this story that we should probably look into. - In the 31st of August 2022, the police
made a significant public statement regarding Dr. Coshan. They declared that they were investigating it as a murder.
- So I'm Detective Superintendent Andrew Patrick of the Major Investigation Team, Police Scotland.
This is obviously a very distressing time for Peter's family, and our priority is to find him.
I'm therefore seeking the public's help in trying to find Peter's body. Extensive enquiries have been carried
out which has led us to explore and search this area. - When we got that report from the police saying
that they were treating Peter Coshan's disappearance as murder, that was when we really, obviously,
saw that this was a much darker tale than it had first appeared in the missing persons
report, initially. DAVID WRIGHT: There was great shock, and I think a number of fellow ex-pupils made
comments to the press and-- and they were generally shocked and concerned and felt, why would someone have murdered him?
DAVID SWINDLE: I didn't know the whereabouts of Dr. Coshan, but they were saying publicly, we're dealing with this
as a murder investigation. Where was Dr. Coshan's body? - This is obviously a very distressing
time for Peter's family and our priority is to find him. I'm therefore seeking the public's help in trying
to find Peter's body. RHODA MORRISON: In any missing person case, my mind instantly goes to the family
and what must be going through their mind. And I think Peter Coshan's family were dealt so many extra, really heavy blows
in this case, because not only did they have their week of panic wondering what had happened
to their elderly relative, but then within that week, they were told that the police were
treating it as murder, but they didn't know where his body was. - Did you see something odd or out of place?
- It's very difficult to have a missing person's report turn into a murder investigation
when no body is found. Typically, they say no body, no crime. That's until they have reason to believe a crime occurred.
That could be because they're the victim of financial crime that goes sideways and the victim
finds out about the crime and is about to go to the police. Now, all of a sudden, they're at high risk of being
the victim of a murder. NARRATOR:<i> Initial examination</i> <i> of Peter's phone and</i>
<i> financial records</i> <i> had immediately</i> <i> led the police</i> <i> to Paul McNaughton</i>
<i> and his roommate, Paul Black.</i> DAVID SWINDLE: They had interviewed key individuals,
significant individuals, and the evidence pointed to the fact it was a murder investigation.
NARRATOR: <i> The investigating officers</i> <i> were looking</i> <i> at the days following</i>
<i> Peter's disappearance,</i> <i> hoping to locate his body.</i> - That really shocked the community in Edinburgh.
There was a lot of former pupils of Dr. Coshan saying how awful the news was. Paying tribute to him already, which was
really, really awful and sad. DAVID WRIGHT: I suppose it's believable that anyone could be murdered, but-- but it was very
surprising and unexpected. And the question really came was why would someone murder him?
What-- what had he done to deserve this? It was something that I think stunned people.
- I'm appealing for anyone who may have been in the Scottish borders during the hours of darkness
on either Monday the 15th or Tuesday the 16th this year. RHODA MORRISON: The release from police
about the fact that they were treating Mr. Coshan's disappearance as murder came almost a week
after he'd gone missing. The next update from police came at the very end of August.
So a couple of weeks later to say that officers were searching woodland down in the Scotland-England border,
searching for his body. - People think they got rid of the body, they would get caught.
You will, because everyone leaves a trace. RHODA MORRISON: They said that there were searching
for information about a car, a dark, old style Vauxhall Vectra that they believe had gone through the Scottish borders
down into Northumberland area. NARRATOR: Police had linked this car to McNaughton
and believed it may have been used to move Peter. - Take time to think back and consider
if you saw a black or dark colored 57 plate Vauxhall Vectra in and around those areas.
Did you notice the car parked somewhere or even off road? Do you remember anything which struck you as odd at the time?
RHODA MORRISON: Police had reason to believe that Peter Coshan had been taken-- his body had been taken from Edinburgh
down south in this car. And we assume, obviously, that these two men had something to do with that.
And the police said that the car was connected in some way, and now they're searching the woodland for his body.
So there's definitely something about that, that told us that it was much more sinister and
dark than we might have thought originally, and a lot more to the story. DAVID SWINDLE: The police in this investigation
are using all the tools in the box-- everything. All sorts of technology, including automatic number
plate recognition. Cameras all the way down the motorway, they would see that and be able to know where
it was at different stages. - So we knew that there were searching along the border in Northumberland,
and we also knew that they were hunting for this car that was obviously connected in some way.
There was no mention whatsoever of motive, and everybody was just wondering what
on Earth had happened there. NARRATOR:<i> While they were</i> <i> searching for the car,</i>
<i> it was clear to the police</i> <i> that McNaughton and</i> <i> Black were involved</i> <i> in Peter's disappearance.</i>
<i> They had been</i> <i> formally arrested.</i> RHODA MORRISON: When we got the release from police
saying that two men had been arrested and charged, there wasn't much information.
BRYANNA FOX: They saw this type of circumstantial evidence that comes with phone calls and financial documents,
the type of things that we would know link these three characters together and led police to infer most likely,
not only is he deceased, but they are responsible for it. NARRATOR:<i> The only lead</i> <i> the police had to Peter's body</i>
<i> was the Vauxhall</i> <i> Vectra that had</i> <i> been tracked to the same area</i> <i> near the Scottish border twice.</i>
DAVID SWINDLE: And they had established that the Vauxhall Vectra that they had access to
had been down south of the border to Northumbria, and then had been back up and back down again.
BRYANNA FOX: Beyond the bank records, the cell phone interactions between McNaughton and Black
and with Peter, the only other type of evidence that would link them to the crime
is the type of murder weapons and murder cover up. NARRATOR:<i> Looking at local CCTV</i> <i> between the dates of the two</i>
<i> car trips, police found</i> <i> footage of McNaughton</i> <i> in a hardware store</i> <i> buying shovels.</i>
BRYANNA FOX: Seeing them go to the store, get shovels, go back to where the body was found,
it really puts them in a tighter bind, where they're going to have all of the documentation
evidence against them, but now there's more behavioral evidence that adds on to it.
NARRATOR:<i> On Sunday,</i> <i> September 4, 2022,</i> <i> officers searching the land</i> <i> adjacent to the A696</i>
<i> near the village</i> <i> of Kirkwhelpington</i> <i> in Northumberland with a victim</i> <i> recovery and detection dog,</i>
<i> found Dr. Peter Coshan's body.</i> RHODA MORRISON: The release came out kind of midday
on Sunday, and it said that a body had been found that morning on the A696 in Northumberland.
DAVID SWINDLE: Who intended to bury his body? But the ground was too hard, so they didn't bury the body.
They just left poor Dr. Coshan behind a wall. How undignified is that? RHODA MORRISON: The state of the body
meant that they couldn't conclude how he'd been killed. The body hadn't been formally identified,
but Peter Coshan's family had all been told. NARRATOR:<i> Dr. Coshan's</i> <i> body had been found,</i>
<i> and the police already had</i> <i> suspects Paul Black and</i> <i> Paul McNaughton in custody.</i>
RHODA MORRISON: It was clear from the timeline that something was a bit off with--
when Peter Coshan had been murdered, and when his body was found, or when the car was seen going through the Scottish
borders to Northumberland. There was a few days in between there. NARRATOR:<i> Bank records showed</i> <i> that having murdered Peter,</i>
<i> Paul McNaughton and Paul Black</i> <i> went back to his apartment,</i> <i> took his bank cards</i> <i> and proceeded to withdraw</i>
<i> as much cash as they could.</i> RHODA MORRISON: He actually took out some money in euros
and then changed it back into pounds. And that was what they used to buy the car that they were
seen driving through the Scottish borders to dump his body in. - McNaughton and Black went off on vacation.
They went have fun. They did things-- they just enjoyed life. Eventually, they knew they had to dispose of the body,
but it wasn't a priority. And that really shows they didn't think through this crime.
There was no real forethought showing that this was a very impulsive type of behavior.
NARRATOR:<i> It would</i> <i> be almost two years</i> <i> after Peters body was found,</i> <i> before Paul McNaughton and</i>
<i> Paul Black faced court.</i> - In that space of time, while I was in the newsroom always asked what on Earth had happened.
We always wondered. We attempted to speak to family to no avail. They didn't want to speak, understandably,
and we tried to speak to neighbors and things as well, just to get a better picture of Peter Coshan
and what kind of person he was like. DAVID WRIGHT: Peter was known was lovingly or
slightly jokingly as Doc Cosh. He was a doctor and his name was Coshan. He was our go-to person.
Obviously, a lot of us were living away from home for the first time. We had any problems at all.
We knew there was an open door for us to-- to help us. NARRATOR:<i> Paul McNaughton</i> <i> pled guilty to the murder</i>
<i> at a preliminary hearing held</i> <i> on Wednesday, August 2, 2023.</i> <i> A separate trial for Paul</i> <i> Black began in May 2024.</i>
RHODA MORRISON: It was really shocking when Paul McNaughton and Paul Black went to court.
Even though we hadn't heard all the details yet, it was easy to kind of see what the motive had been here
and what they had been hoping to gain from killing him. BRYANNA FOX: McNaughton was ultimately seen
as the ringleader of this, that he was the one who initially identified Peter Coshan for this fraud.
He was the one who was bringing the financial elements into it, stealing from him, and only after the murder occurred,
did Black really become a true partner in this crime? He may have financially benefited earlier,
but it wasn't his financial scheme. But afterwards, that changes and Black really became part
of the cover up of this crime. RHODA MORRISON: As the court case unraveled, it became clear that this was a much, much longer running
thing than we'd ever thought. Paul McNaughton had stolen money from Peter Coshan
before his death. And obviously had decided that killing him was the last way that he could try
and get the rest of his money. POPPY EVERTON: McNaughton when confronted with the possibility of this being reported to police, made
the decision to protect himself and continue to be greedy, made the decision to take Peter's life
and ultimately continue to defraud him after his passing. DAVID SWINDLE: What started out as an individual
targeting a vulnerable man for the purposes of money. Financial gain escalated by greed.
And then they have to find out a way to get themselves off. NARRATOR:<i> At Edinburgh</i> <i> Crown Court,</i>
<i> Paul Black was facing</i> <i> Peter Coshan's friends and</i> <i> family charged with</i> <i> having fraudulently</i>
<i> stolen thousands of pounds</i> <i> from the pensioner</i> <i> and then killing him.</i>
DAVID WRIGHT: I suppose in any court case, you want someone to have to answer for it,
but it was still a shock but why. I'm not sure we ever really got to the bottom of that.
RHODA MORRISON: Paul McNaughton must have known that he was almost the kind of perfect person
to prey upon. This is a man who lives alone, who's got a really private life. But little did they know that it actually took not 24
hours to report him missing, they knew him that well and knew that something was really, really wrong.
POPPY EVERTON: Peter obviously did have a close network of friends. Unfortunately, he didn't make any disclosures,
particularly around what was happening in this situation. And this could have been for a variety of reasons.
But ultimately, there may have been some embarrassment there. - So when the information about the fraud came out,
I think we obviously wondered why Peter hadn't revealed anything. I think it might have been that he just hadn't quite
understood what was happening. RHODA MORRISON: Had Peter Coshan not found out about them taking money,
maybe it would have ended without-- without him dying. NARRATOR:<i> It seemed that</i> <i> despite their friendship,</i>
<i> Peter was unaware</i> <i> where McNaughton lived</i> <i> and had been lured to his house</i> <i> on the false promise of a date.</i>
RHODA MORRISON: It became apparent that Peter Coshan had been lured to his address
through that dating app. Paul McNaughton had made a fake profile and asked Peter Coshan to go and meet him in Seafield Road.
Obviously, not knowing who it actually was. - Online, there are people who are pretending
to be somebody they're not, and this can be particularly difficult to spot, even for younger people.
I think, technology has moved along quite quickly. DAVID SWINDLE: He knew the vulnerabilities of Dr. Coshan,
and he would know what would tempt him into communication because the fake profile was him.
And he communicates with Dr. Coshan in the name David. This is someone that's organized.
Someone that's trapped like a wild animal trapped in a corner. He's been found out.
He knows fine well that the police are going to find out that he stole that money.
What's he going to do? NARRATOR:<i> In court,</i> <i> McNaughton's roommate and</i>
<i> accomplice, Paul</i> <i> Black, realizing he</i> <i> was facing a life sentence</i> <i> for murder, decided</i>
<i> to turn on his friend</i> <i> and reveal the horrifying truth</i> <i> behind Peter's death.</i>
RHODA MORRISON: Paul Black gave evidence in the court, and he was the only one to really paint
any kind of picture that we could have of what actually happened. When Peter Coshan got to Paul McNaughton's flat,
Paul Black said he opened the door and let Peter Coshan and led him through to a room where
Paul McNaughton was waiting. And he then said that Paul McNaughton attacked Peter Coshan, and the next he knew
was that Paul McNaughton had come out and told him that he had killed him. BRYANNA FOX: After Peter was killed,
his body was stuffed into a suitcase, put under a bed, essentially just forgotten.
If there's a risk of a body being linked to you when it is found in the middle of nowhere,
the risk of a body being linked to you when it's found in your house under your bed
is exceptionally higher. And so the fact that they were willing to do that does emphasize the point that McNaughton was pretty
confident in his ability to get away with this, despite nothing really to back it up.
RHODA MORRISON: While Peter Coshan lay dead in Paul McNaughton's Leith flat. He and Paul Black actually almost were
seen to kind of celebrate. They went up to Burntisland in Fife to go to a funfair.
All the details that come out of it really seemed like they had no remorse at all,
that they were relishing in the fact that they'd come across this money and they were intent on spending it.
NARRATOR:<i> Police were able</i> <i> to link a recorded card</i> <i> transaction on that</i> <i> day with CCTV</i>
<i> showing McNaughton</i> <i> eating fast food.</i> DAVID SWINDLE: That just shows that they had absolutely
no respect for Dr. Coshan. BRYANNA FOX: This crime was not very thought through.
Each step seemed to be an idea as it occurred to McNaughton. He thinks, let's go for it.
He doesn't think through the consequences. He doesn't think, how am I going to get away with this?
He just thinks, I'm going to do it and I'll figure it out from there. That does display two features.
One is a lot of impulsivity, which is highly characteristic of psychopathy. The second is he doesn't have a lot of reason
to be so confident in his ability to get away with it, and yet he has it. So the type of grandiosity, especially
in light of no reason to think that he's going to pull this off, is really notable.
NARRATOR:<i> Paul</i> <i> McNaughton had already</i> <i> pleaded guilty to murder,</i> <i> but Paul Black had faced trial</i>
<i> after pleading not guilty.</i> DAVID SWINDLE: Black was found guilty of attempting to defeat
or pervert the course of justice. He was well aware of what had happened, and he was out in part with McNaughton
in disposing of the body and carrying out the fraud that led to it. RHODA MORRISON: It's so hard not to feel really, really
sorry for a family who have been waiting so many years for answers and then to learn
of all the horrible details. Unthinkable what his family must have been thinking when
they found out about what had happened to him, and how he'd been lured there, and they didn't
really stand a chance at all. DAVID WRIGHT: Well, I think there was obviously a degree of relief that they'd been caught
and that there was someone going to face justice for this. But still, a bit of disbelief about why would-- why would
someone have killed them? Why would these people have killed them? You know, what-- what-- what was the motivation?
NARRATOR:<i> With</i> <i> their continued spending,</i> <i> McNaughton and Black</i> <i> had successfully stolen</i>
<i> an estimated 70,000</i> <i> pounds from Peter,</i> <i> some of it after killing him.</i>
BRYANNA FOX: The fact that McNaughton and Black take steps to try to dispose his body, but they
engage in even more telling financial crimes, stealing money after he's dead, which could be the clearest thing
to link them to him. It shows that is just doubling down on a bad hand. They are doing things that are just
implicating them even more. This was not planned out. This was highly impulsive.
They were really making stupid errors. And there's really nothing more to say other
than they had no planning in this crime whatsoever. RHODA MORRISON: They weren't very
careful about their actions. They obviously thought there was going to be no consequences.
They did take out 5,000 pounds and buy a car. They sold the watch at a pawn shop.
It was very much anything they could get out of it, and they obviously just didn't have any kind of awareness
that the police would be able to track anything they did, which, of course, they did.
DAVID SWINDLE: People think that they can commit the perfect murder and get away with it.
You can't do that nowadays. And people naively think if they get rid of the body
or conceal the body, that they won't be caught. RHODA MORRISON: The jury would have been left in
almost no doubt that it was a premeditated crime, that they'd planned to kill Peter Coshan in order to get his money,
and that they had plans in place of how they were going to spend it. They had wanted his money and that they were going to get it.
DAVID SWINDLE: It's about proving the case beyond reasonable doubt, and there's plenty of evidence
that you get together without a body. Telephone footage, forensic evidence, CCTV, witness testimony.
It's a conglomeration of things that are put together that prove that case beyond reasonable doubt.
RHODA MORRISON: The jury found Paul Black not guilty of murder. So the sentence that the judge ended up handing down,
he sentenced Paul Black to 5 and 1/2 years. He sentenced Paul McNaughton to life imprisonment.
DAVID WRIGHT: I think Peter's story makes us all feel very sad. We lost a good friend for no apparent reason,
and it-- it just doesn't-- doesn't do him justice. RHODA MORRISON: He was such a private man
that any details that he could have given during his life, he was never, ever going to have given.
And Paul McNaughton knew that. Case is one that, I think, will probably stick with me for many, many years.
It's something that you can't help but picture your own family members, the elderly people you know and just wonder what on Earth he
must have been thinking. There must have been a real sense of panic for him when he found out this man was stealing money,
and he felt like he couldn't tell anybody about it. But almost certainly, they would have got away
with stealing that money from him, and he would never have told us all. But they just couldn't leave him be after that,
and had to rid him of his life in order to get the rest of it. It's impossible not to feel so, so sad when you think about it.
- All of me and my friends who knew him would like Peter to be remembered for his caring and support and friendship through our school
and beyond. And the unfortunate way in which he met his end should not be the way he's remembered it,
should be what he achieved in life. [somber music] [exhilarating music]

In Edinburgh, retired teacher Peter Coshan vanishes after trusting a charming younger man whose plans center on his savings.

This true crime series delves into cases where financial schemes spiral into betrayal, violence and murder, exposing the deadly cost of lies fueled by greed.

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Brief Summary

Dr. Peter Coshan was murdered by Paul McNaughton after being defrauded, highlighting vulnerabilities in online relationships and financial scams targeting the elderly.

Key points

The Start of Deception. Every fraud begins with a promise, but most don't end in a murder.
The Vulnerable Victim. 75-year-old Dr. Peter Coshan was targeted by a younger fraudster online.
The Betrayal of Trust. Dr. Coshan's trust in McNaughton led to a devastating betrayal.
Peter Coshan Missing Case. The investigation into Peter Coshan's disappearance escalates into a murder case.
Murder Investigation Declared. Police announce they are treating Peter's disappearance as a murder investigation.
Arrests Made. Two men are arrested in connection with Peter's murder, shocking the community.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You will, because everyone leaves a trace.

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1:19WatchMar 9, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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