UK TV Presenter Arrested For Mercy Killing

LONDON, Feb. 16, 2010 — -- U.K. police today arrested award-winning British TV presenter Ray Gosling on suspicion of murder. This comes after the broadcaster made claims that he suffocated a former lover suffering from AIDS. Gosling made the startling confession on camera, on the BBC television program, "Inside Out", broadcast Monday night.

The program focused on people faced with difficult end-of-life decisions, and Gosling said that listening to the stories of others compelled him to "share a secret that I have kept for quite a long time."

As he walked through a graveyard, Gosling said, "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," Gosling said.

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

In an interview aired on Sky News Tuesday the veteran broadcaster said he will not say anything to police. "I will say nothing," he insisted, "even if they torture me."

Assisted suicide is illegal in England, and carries a sentence of up to 14 years in jail. Gosling claims that he had made a pact with his former lover stating that he would help him to end his life if he suffered from terrible pain as the result of an incurable illness.