17/02/2010

BBC Man Held For Killing Ill Lover

Police are questioning a TV presenter after he admitted killing a former lover suffering from Aids.

Ray Gosling was arrested by officers from Nottinghamshire Police this morning after making the disclosure in a BBC television documentary on Monday.

The 70-year-old filmmaker said he had agreed to end his unnamed lover's suffering in a so-called 'mercy killing'.

A police spokesman said: "A 70-year-old Nottingham man was arrested earlier on suspicion of murder following comments made on the BBC's Inside Out programme on Monday evening."

Mr Gosling previously said he would not identify the man he killed or when the incident happened.

The seriously ill man had been told by doctors there was little they could so for him. Mr Gosling smothered his lover with a pillow in hospital.

He said: "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.

"When you love someone, it is difficult to see them suffer."

Mr Gosling said he did not believe he had committed a crime.

"We had a pact - he said if the pain gets bad and if nothing can be done, don't let him linger on.

"It's a terrible situation. I loved him to bits. I don't think it's a crime."

Assisted suicide in the UK is illegal, however in September last year the director of public prosecutions strengthened guidelines on when prosecution was appropriate.

(PR/GK)

Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

18 February 2010
Gosling Bailed By Police
A BBC filmmaker has been freed by police after he was questioned over the death of a lover who was suffering from Aids. Ray Gosling admitted that he killed him in a documentary broadcast by the station earlier this week. His lover was being treated for the terminal illness in hospital when he was smothered.
20 August 2010
Mercy Killing 'Time Waster' Gosling Charged
BBC presenter Ray Gosling is to be charged with wasting police time over claims that he killed his terminally ill gay lover. Mr Gosling, 71, from Nottingham, is to be charged over claims made in an interview with Bill Turnbull on BBC Breakfast in February that he smothered the man, who was dying of Aids.
06 March 2015
Mother And Lover Jailed For Killing Eight-Year-Old Daughter
A mother and her lesbian lover have been jailed for killing her eight-year-old daughter in east London. Ayesha Ali was found dead in her bedroom with over 50 injuries on her body. Her mother, Polly Chowdury, was sentenced to 13 years behind bars for manslaughter. Her lover, Kiki Muddar, received 18 years for the same offence.
10 November 2006
Man pleads guilty to stabbing student
A man who stabbed a student to death on a train has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Thomas Lee Wood, 22, from Skelmersdale in Lancashire admitted killing first-year student Thomas Grant, 19, from Glouestershire who had been attending St Andrews University.
14 September 2010
'Mercy Killing' Presenter 'Wasted Police Time'
A BBC presenter who claimed to have smothered his terminally ill lover has received a 90-day suspended sentence for wasting police time. Ray Gosling, 71, from Nottingham, had been charged over the claim, which he made during an interview with Bill Turnbull on BBC Breakfast on February 16.