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Gay news: Pioneering gay rights campaigner says the incident happened in 'the early period of AIDS'
Ray Gosling: 'From the heart'
BBC broadcaster killed AIDS patient lover 'from his heart'
Ray Gosling, the gay veteran BBC broadcaster facing a police investigation following his claim that he killed a terminally ill former partner, has said: "I did what I did from my heart."
Gosling, 70, told the East Midlands' Inside Out programme last night that he had agreed to smother his lover, who was living with AIDS, if his suffering became too intense.
When a doctor told him there was nothing more that could be done for his partner, who was in "terrible pain", Gosling asked for them to be left alone and then "picked up a pillow and smothered him until he was dead. The doctor came back and I said: 'He's gone'. Nothing more was ever said."
Following the broadcast, a Nottinghamshire police spokeswoman said: "We were not aware of Mr Gosling's comments until the BBC Inside Out programme was shown. We are now liaising with the BBC and will investigate the matter."
But in an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, Gosling said of the police statement: "I don't do worry. I did what I did from my heart."
Although he would not name the man or the hospital involved, the incident happened in "the early period of AIDS" the broadcaster revealed, after he had come to an agreement to end his partner's suffering if the pain became intolerable.
"That's what I did and if there's a heaven he would look down and be proud of me," he said.
Asked by Inside Out presenter Marie Ashby if he had regrets, Gosling said: "Absolutely none. He was in terrible pain - I was there and I saw it. It breaks you into pieces. I don't think it's a crime."
Sarah Wooten, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said of Gosling's revelation: "This case yet again demonstrates that this is a real and present problem, which can affect us all.
"The law is out of step with what society needs and wants. Crucially, Ray Gosling's loved one was terminally ill and clearly asked for help to die when he was suffering unbearably at the end of his life.
"This illustrates a need for formal assisted dying legislation to help those who want choice at the end of life, as well as protect people who may be vulnerable to coercion."
Gosling, who was an early gay rights campaigner and member of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality in the 1960s, has made hundreds of radio and TV documentaries for the BBC.
