Veteran BBC presenter Ray Gosling has been arrested on suspicion of murder by Nottinghamshire Police after he admitted smothering his terminally ill lover.
Watch Ray Gosling’s confession
Ray Gosling’s confession, broadcast on BBC East Midlands’ Inside Out programme, was broadcast earlier this week during a documentary on death and dying.
Nottinghamshire Police officers are questioning Mr Gosling over the confession, but the presenter has already vowed not to co-operate with a police investigation into the killing.
Mr Gosling said: “I’m not going to tell, no way, just like I won’t tell any of the secrets people told me. I wouldn’t even tell under torture, because that was the pact and what we agreed.”
Mr Gosling claims that he had made a pact with his homosexual AIDS stricken lover, who he describes as “his bit on the side”, to help him die if the pain became too great.
But critics were quick to point out that the only evidence for the pact comes from Mr Gosling himself.
Dr Peter Saunders from the Care Not Killing alliance said: “At the moment all we have is Ray’s word there was a pact and it wasn’t clear from his description whether his lover even wanted to be killed or asked to be.”
Dr Saunders also criticised the BBC for failing to inform the police when Mr Gosling first made his admission during filming.
During an interview with the Today Programme Mr Gosling also claimed that doctors are helping patients die “every day”.
However, Dr Victoria Wheatley, consultant of palliative care at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, vigorously refuted the claim saying that “doctors do not bring somebody’s death forward.”
Mr Gosling’s confession is the latest in a series of high profile assisted suicide programmes broadcast by the BBC.
Last week over 20 MPs signed an Early Day Motion which accuses the broadcaster of conducting a “multi-million pound campaign” to promote euthanasia.
The presenter’s confession comes ahead of the controversial publication of final guidance from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on when cases of assisted suicide will be prosecuted.
The DPP’s final guidance for England and Wales will be published this Spring.