Police to investigate BBC presenter who told viewers he smothered former lover

Detectives are to investigate after a BBC presenter told TV viewers that he carried out a mercy killing on a former lover who was suffering from Aids.

Ray Gosling, 70, said he had smothered the unnamed partner as he lay in hospital "in terrible, terrible pain".

Appearing on BBC East Midlands' Inside Out programme last night, he said: "When you love someone, it is difficult to see them suffer. We'd got an agreement, if it got worse, the pain, and nobody could do anything."

A spokeswoman for Nottinghamshire Police said the force had not been aware of the issue until last night. She added: "We are now liaising with the BBC and will investigate the matter." The BBC said it would "co-operate fully".

Gosling today told Radio 4's Today programme that he was not "making a cause" of assisted dying but said 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.