BBC television presenter Ray Gosling arrested following 'mercy killing' claim

A TELEVISION presenter who told viewers he killed an ex-lover who was suffering from Aids was arrested today on suspicion of murder.

Ray Gosling was detained by Nottinghamshire Police after he apparently confessed to a mercy killing on the BBC East Midlands programme Inside Out.

Mr Gosling, 70, said he had smothered a former partner in his hospital bed because the man was in "terrible, terrible pain".

Strolling through a graveyard for a segment of the 30-minute show about death, he broke down as he recalled the day he took his lover's life.

Gosling told viewers: "Maybe this is the time to share a secret that I have kept for quite a long time.

"I killed someone once. He was a young chap, he'd been my lover and he got Aids.

"In a hospital one hot afternoon, the doctor said 'There's nothing we can do', and he was in terrible, terrible pain.

"I said to the doctor 'Leave me just for a bit' and he went away. I picked up the pillow and smothered him until he was dead.

"The doctor came back and I said 'He's gone'. Nothing more was ever said."

A police spokeswoman said: "Nottinghamshire Police has this morning arrested a 70-year-old Nottingham man on suspicion of murder following comments on the BBC's Inside Out programme on Monday evening."

Gosling, a freelance presenter of hundreds of radio and TV documentaries, said he had no regrets about his actions, adding: "When you love someone, it is difficult to see them suffer.

"We'd got an agreement, if it got worse, the pain, and nobody could do anything.

"He was in terrible pain, I was there and I saw it. It breaks you into pieces."

Yesterday, Mr Gosling said he would not reveal any details to police.

He said he was not "making a cause" of assisted dying but said there was a case for changing the law.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, he said: "Sometimes doctors do it on their own. Sometimes people do it on their own.

"And if it happens to a lover or friend of yours, a husband, a wife, and I hope it doesn't, but when it does sometimes you have to do brave things and you have to say – to use Nottingham language – bugger the law."

Aiding or abetting another person's death is illegal in England and Wales under the 1961 Suicide Act, and is punishable by up to 14 years in jail.