Ray Gosling released on bail in murder quiz

(BBC)

Broadcaster Ray Gosling, who confessed in a television programme to the mercy killing of a lover, was released on police bail today.

Gosling, 70, left Oxclose Lane police station in Nottingham via a back entrance after being questioned on suspicion of murder for a day and a half.

His lawyer Digby Johnson said: "He has been released on police bail. There are further inquiries to be carried out by the police. He provided the police with a lot of information and they have now got to sift through that."

Bail had been provided for a couple of months, he added.

Earlier today, detectives were given a further 12 hours to question Gosling.

He was arrested yesterday after he told BBC East Midlands' Inside Out programme that he smothered a male lover who was suffering from Aids.

During the programme aired on Monday, Gosling said he smothered his partner because he was "in terrible, terrible pain".

Since then, he has refused to name the man involved but has insisted his decision to speak out publicly was right.

During the shock confession in the 30-minute show about death, Gosling broke down, saying: "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."

Gosling, a freelance presenter of hundreds of radio and TV documentaries, added: "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."

Gosling said he was not "making a cause" of assisted dying but that there was a case for changing 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.

But Gosling has been arrested on suspicion of murder and, if convicted, he faces a mandatory life sentence.

The BBC said earlier that it broadcast Gosling's revelation for "reasons of journalistic integrity".

A spokesman said: "We believe we have handled the report sensitively and appropriately.

"We kept him fully informed about our representation of his story in the report and he understood that a revelation of this nature could have a number of consequences.

"The BBC is under no legal obligation to refer the matter to the police in these circumstances and since transmission we have been approached by the police and are co-operating fully."

Mr Johnson spoke to reporters outside the police station.

He said: "Ray is really shattered. He is delighted to be out. He has not slept a great deal and he has had a lot of things to think about. But he is cock-a-hoop to be released.

"He knows it is something that will go on for many months and, in a sense, it will always be with him but he is delighted to get a break at this stage."

Asked whether Gosling expected the coverage his confession received, Mr Johnson added: "He is very surprised at the attention it has drawn. Ray thought it was a fairly short item on a regional television programme and it wouldn't cause many ripples."