All language subtitles for Fatal.Fraud.S01E01.1080p.WEB.h264-CODSWALLOP_track3_[eng]

(Narrator) Every fraud
begins with a promise.

But most don't end in a murder.

They're the victim
of financial crime.

Now, all of a sudden,
they're at high risk

of being the victim of a murder.

(Narrator) A quick fortune, easy
money, or a life torn apart.

(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)
But behind these illusions

lie calculated deceptions,
carefully hidden in plain sight.

(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) Sometimes these
criminals are backed into a corner

and feel their only
way out is to kill.

(Fiona Hotston Moore)
Fraud is quite regular,

and fraudsters move into murder.

In my experience, it's usually
driven by desperation or greed.

(Swindle) People think
if they get rid of the body,

they wouldn't get caught.

You will, because
everyone leaves a trace.

(dramatic music)

(pensive 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)
On August 12, 2022, police

announced they were
searching for a missing

person in the Scottish
capital city of Edinburgh.

(Rhoda) We get missing persons
reports from police

pretty much on a daily basis...

(camera shutter clicking)

...sometimes multiple times a day.

(camera shutter clicking)

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) The report named
the missing man

as 75-year-old Peter Coshan, who
had last been seen on Thursday,

August 11.

(Rhoda)
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

persons report from the police.

(Swindle)
Peter Coshan was an academic,

a well-respected academic that
taught in a prestigious college.

(Rhoda)
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)
Fettes College is a very famous

school in the centre of Edinburgh.

Peter taught students
from the ages of 13 to 18.

(Swindle)
I'm David Swindle.

I was a former senior
detective, a murder detective

for new Strathclyde Police.

Dr Peter Coshan was
a biology teacher.

He was well-respected
and well-known.

(Rhoda)
He was a really dedicated

teacher, from what his
former pupils 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.

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) 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.

(Swindle)
He was a person that was a very

private person, very intelligent.

(Narrator) Dr Coshan retired
from the school in 2005.

As well as teaching, he had led
the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme

for over 30 years.

(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) He lived alone.

His family
did live 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.

(Wright) He had
a close bond with his family.

And he particularly talked
in his long and epic letters

about his aged mother, who he
used to take all over the country

and sometimes all over the
world on great adventures.

(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 living 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) Peter was active
on several different websites

where he connected
with people to arrange

meeting them in person locally.

(Swindle)
Peter Coshan was trusting.

He doesn't know he's going to meet
someone that could be catfishing

or trying to find someone
that's vulnerable.

And that's the sad
realities of online.

(Narrator) In the summer of
2021, he met Paul McNaughton.

(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 cos in 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.

(tense music)

(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) One thing that
we commonly see with fraud

is that it doesn't just
go straight to the fraud.

There are grooming
behaviours that occur.

First, they have to get the person
to trust them, either through, you

know, 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) 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.

(Wright) Peter, his starting
point was to trust people

and to not expect the
worst from people.

(Poppy)
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) Soon after
they met online,

Paul was visiting
Peter at home and also

helping him with any IT problems.

Peter Coshan trusted
Paul McNaughton.

He had the freedom
to roam in the house.

He left paperwork lying around.

(Bryanna) 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 is looking for companionship.

It had the makings of a
vulnerable victimhood all over it.

(Narrator) By September
2021, McNaughton

had logged into Peter's
bank accounts and could

see that he had a lot of savings.

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.

(suspenseful music)

(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 gonna 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 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.

(tense music)

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) McNaughton enlisted the
help of his 62-year-old roommate,

Paul Black, to impersonate
Dr Coshan on the phone to the bank.

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)
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's account,

created a fraudulent scheme to try
and test the water to see if he

could get money from the account.

(tense music)

(Narrator) Paul McNaughton had
started using Peter's cards

to not only withdraw large amounts
of cash, but also to spend on them.

If he got challenged,
he had a plan.

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 accounts.

(Swindle)
Sadly, identity fraud

is becoming more and more common.

They were able to get 8,000
pounds out of that account.

(Narrator) By using Peter's cards,
McNaughton may have thought

he was untraceable.

(Fiona)
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)
They obviously thought

there was going to
be no consequences.

They went on a spending spree
with Peter Coshan's money.

But they did take out 8,000
pounds, then go down to Blackpool.

(Narrator) Both
Paul McNaughton and Paul Black

proceeded to spend
their illicit money

in reckless and frivolous ways.

This was the start of
them splashing the cash.

(Bryanna) One of the hallmarks
of a fraudster, especially

simplistic fraud like this,
is, they're not stealing

and then, you know, 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.

(Swindle) When Paul McNaughton
saw the money,

he 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.

(tense music)

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...

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 get caught.

(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.

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.

And this is significant amounts
of money, and it's totalling up.

(Bryanna) It appeared
to be Peter taking money

from his own accounts,
doing it in 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)
Eventually, with over 60,000

pounds missing from his account,
Dr Coshan finally began to notice.

(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 realisation
sets in, you probably

don't want to tell
everyone and own up

to the fact you've been taken in.

(Narrator)
It seemed like Peter had no option,

but to confront McNaughton.

(Bryanna) 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) 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 sort of
having those conversations.

(Wright)
I would have thought that Peter

probably never saw this coming.

He wouldn't have realised that he

would have been a target
like this.

(Rhoda)
Peter Coshan had threatened

to go to the police to report
Paul McNaughton for the theft.

(Poppy)
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) Peter had let McNaughton
know that the money was missing.

But while he waited for answers, he
probably didn't know where to turn.

(Bryanna) 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 that perhaps it was an error.

But for him, he was conned,
and it was an organised con.

And it was wrought by
McNaughton and Black.

(Poppy) 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?

(pensive music)

(Narrator) Peter's family
and friends were unaware

anything was wrong.

On the 11th of August, Peter
and one of his friends had

been out to the movies together.

She had dropped him
home at 10:50 PM.

On the morning of the 12th, several
texts were sent from Peter's phone

to friends and family.

There was a text message
sent from Peter's phone

where ultimately it
stated, "Phone playing up.

Getting fixed tom."

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?

(Wright) 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

age wasn't treating him well.

(Narrator) Parkinson's
disease meant

that Peter's movement
and speech could be slow,

but he was still mentally aware.

(Poppy) 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) On August 12, following
the concern from friends and with

no sign of Peter at
home, the police issued

a missing persons
report, and it was picked

up by the "Edinburgh Press."

When we first heard that
Peter Coshan 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.

It 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.

In the police report, it 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 persons one,

so they're thinking,
you know, 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.

(sirens wailing)

(Swindle) When the police
have a missing person report,

they examine a 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) 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) 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.

(tense music)

On 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 am 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.

(Wright)
There was great shock.

And I think a number
of fellow ex-pupils

made comments to the press.

And they were generally
shocked and concerned

and felt, why would
someone have murdered him?

(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?

(tense music)

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.

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 the 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.

If you see something
odd or out of place...

It's very difficult to
have a missing persons

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 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) Initial examination of
Peter's phone and financial records

had immediately led the
police to Paul McNaughton

and his roommate, Paul Black.

(Swindle) They had
interviewed key individuals,

significant individuals.

And the evidence pointed
to the fact

it was a murder investigation.

(pensive music)

(Narrator) The
investigating officers

were looking at the days
following Peter's disappearance,

hoping to locate his body.

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.

(Wright)
I suppose it's believable

that anyone could be
murdered, but it was

very surprising and unexpected.

And the question really came was
why would someone murder him.

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) 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.

(suspenseful music)

People think
if they get rid of the body,

they wouldn't get caught.

You will,
because everyone leaves a trace.

(Rhoda) Police were
saying that they 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-coloured
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) 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.

(Swindle) The police,
in this investigation,

were 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) While they were
searching for the car,

it was clear to the police
that McNaughton and Black were

involved in Peter's disappearance.

They had been formally arrested.

(Rhoda) When we got
the release from police saying

that two men had been
arrested and charged,

there wasn't much information.

(Bryanna) 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.

(grim music)

(Narrator) The only lead the
police had to Peter's body

was the Vauxhall Vectra that had
been tracked to the same area

near the Scottish border twice.

(Swindle) And they'd
established that the Vauxhall

Vectra that they had access to
had been down south of the border

to Northumberland, and then
had been back up and heading

back down again.

(Bryanna) 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) Looking at local CCTV
between the dates of the two car

trips, police found
footage of McNaughton

in a hardware store buying shovels.

(Bryanna) 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 behavioural
evidence that adds on to it.

(Narrator) On Sunday,
September 4, 2022,

officers searching the
land adjacent to the A696

near the village of
Kirkwhelpington in Northumberland

with a victim recovery
and detection dog

found Dr Peter Coshan's body.

(Rhoda) 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.

(Swindle) They
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)
The state of the body

meant they couldn't conclude
how he'd had been killed.

The body hadn't been
formally identified,

but Peter Coshan's
family had all been told.

(suspenseful music)

(Narrator) Dr Coshan's body
had been found, and the police

already had suspects Paul Black
and Paul McNaughton in custody.

(Rhoda) 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) Bank records showed
that having murdered Peter,

Paul McNaughton and Paul Black
went back to his apartment,

took his bank cards, and
proceeded to withdraw as much cash

as they could.

(Rhoda) They 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.

You know, 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 behaviour.

(sombre music)

(Narrator) It would
be almost two years

after Peter's body was found before
Paul McNaughton and Paul Black

faced court.

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
neighbours and things as well,

just to get kind of a better
picture of Peter Coshan and what

kind of person he was like.

(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 didn't have
any problems at all.

We knew there was an open
door for Doc Cosh to help us.

(Narrator) Paul McNaughton
pled guilty to the murder

at a preliminary hearing held
on Wednesday, August 2, 2023.

A separate trial for Paul
Black began in May 2024.

(Rhoda) 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) McNaughton was
ultimately seen as the ringleader

of this, that he was the one
who had 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) As the
court case unravelled,

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.

(tense music)

(Poppy) 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 continued to
defraud him after his passing.

(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.

(pensive music)

(Narrator) At Edinburgh
Crown Court, Paul Black

was facing Peter Coshan's friends
and family, charged with having

fraudulently stolen thousands
of pounds from the pensioner

and then killing him.

(Wright) I suppose
in any court case

that you want someone to
have to answer for it,

but it was still a shock, but why?

And I'm not sure we ever really
got to the bottom of that.

(Rhoda)
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)
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)
Had Peter Coshan not

found out about them taking
money, maybe it would

have ended without him dying.

(tense music)

(Narrator) It seemed that
despite their friendship,

Peter was unaware
where McNaughton lived

and had been lured to his house
on the false promise of a date.

(Rhoda)
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.

(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.

That's just someone
that's organised,

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 is he going to do?

(Narrator) In court, McNaughton's
roommate and accomplice,

Paul Black, realising he was
facing a life sentence for murder,

decided to turn on his friend
and reveal the horrifying

truth behind Peter's death.

(Rhoda) 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 in

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)
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

emphasise the points that
McNaughton was pretty confident

in his ability to get away with
this, despite nothing, really,

to back it up.

While Peter Coshan lay dead
in Paul McNaughton's Leith flat,

he and Paul Black actually
almost were seen to 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) Police were able
to link a recorded card

transaction on that
day with CCTV showing

McNaughton eating fast food.

(Swindle) That just shows
that they had absolutely

no respect for poor Dr Coshan.

(Bryanna) 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) Paul McNaughton had
already pleaded guilty to murder,

but Paul Black had faced trial
after pleading not guilty.

(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 acting a part
with McNaughton

in disposing of the body

and carrying out
the fraud that led to it.

(suspenseful music)

(Rhoda)
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 know
he'd stand a chance at all.

(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 someone have killed him?

Why would these people
have killed him?

And, you know,
what was the motivation?

(Narrator) With their
continued spending,

McNaughton and Black
had successfully

stolen an estimated
70,000 pounds from Peter,

some of it after killing him.

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) 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.

(motor revving)

They sold his 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.

(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) 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 they were going to get it.

(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.

And 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.

(soft music)

(Wright) I think Peter's story
makes us all feel very sad.

We lost a good friend
for no apparent reason.

And it just doesn't...
doesn't do him justice.

(Rhoda) 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.

This 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 a soul.

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.

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