"Broadcaster killed ailing lover" : BBC Inside Out

[Maurice]

ceefax:



A broadcaster for the BBC's INSIDE OUT programme smothered his ailing lover to spare him from "terrible pain".



Police are investigating after the Nottingham film-maker said he had a pact with the deceased man to act if his suffering increased.



During a documentary on death and dying, Ray Gosling, 70, said:



"I killed someone once. He'd been my lover and he got Aids.



"I picked up the pillow and smothered him until he was dead. No regrets."

[Rowdon]

Ray Gosling was on Radio 4 this morning talking about it.He says he doesn't have any campaign or any intentions other than to tell the truth about a death, in a programme about death. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

[Ray]

He was also on BBCs Breakfast programme talking to Bill Turnball and Sian Williams.

I got the impression that he doesn't realise that he could be in serious trouble with the Police.

[Windthrop]

Ray Gosling's claims about a 'mercy killing' of a dying lover are to be investigated by the police.



He has no regrets but I can't help feeling sorry for old Ray, everything seems to go wrong for him - career collapses, financial ruin et al. Now he does get a brief spot on TV he faces potential prosecution.



I can understand why he might want to be part of the debate on assisted deaths even if he claims not to a crusader on the matter. I can only hope his 'confession' is treated sympathetically by the criminal justice system.



His next documentary about the decline of his life and career will be about his arrest and possible incarceration. Wonder if that was his motivation - to drum up work.

[Torquemada]

Yes and no Ray. I think Gosling has always had a bit of devil may care about him, but he has experienced lots of negative times in his life. It wouldn't surprise me if he knows exactly what could possibly happen to him, but I'm not sure it would hit him until it did.



On a personal note I clearly remember him traveling the country when I was very young and holding mass tv debates/rallies in set places and him being a very scary interviewer, to me anyway.

[Santonix]

name='Maurice']ceefax



During a documentary on death and dying, Ray Gosling, 70, said:



"I killed someone once. He'd been my lover and he got Aids.



"I picked up the pillow and smothered him until he was dead. No regrets."

It must have left a deep scar on him. I saw him on BBC Breakfast this morning and I think he has was glad to unburden himself and talk about it.

[Torquemada]

Well he is skint of course, but I still admire his bravery and openness, whether he fully appreciates what he may have started or not.

[Mr Sloane]

name='Torquemada']Well he is skint of course, but I still admire his bravery and openness, whether he fully appreciates what he may have started or not.

I agree entirely, his documentaries might well have been polemic but they were honestly so, it would be wonderful to get that kind of passion into any documentary today.



I do worry what he may have unleashed personally about his relevations about his partners death. Though he may have re-ignited the debate about Euthanasia which still requires resolving. No one should be put into the position he and many others are when dealing with the wishes of desperately ill loved ones.

[paul kersey]

What a tragic tale. I have no idea how long has passed since the death of Ray's friend. Would I be correct in assuming that the body has been Cremated and that any evidence has thus been destroyed? Can one be convicted without physical evidence of a crime being committed. Would convicting Ray Gosling be in the public interest in any way.?

[Windthrop]

name='paul kersey']What a tragic tale. I have no idea how long has passed since the death of Ray's friend. Would I be correct in assuming that the body has been Cremated and that any evidence has thus been destroyed? Can one be convicted without physical evidence of a crime being committed. Would convicting Ray Gosling be in the public interest in any way.?

None whatsoever and as I mentioned earlier I hope he does not face charges only sympathy.

[wellendcanons]

It's always a dilemma for me as to how far a person should go with a mercy killing for it to be a justifiable act. I will say though that if someone is faced with nothing else but the prospect of a slow, painful and terribly uncomfortable death, then surely a mercy killing is the humane thing to do. I know it's a cliche but it's true. You wouldn't let a dog suffer like that.



Ray Gosling may well have no regrets about his actions but he must have needed to offload. I take Torquemada's point about him being skint. Nevertheless, it's certainly a brave move for sure and I would have thought an essential one for his own sanity.



wellendcanons.

[Joenoir]

I'm sorry, I don't think there is enough information here for me. Did his lover ask him to smother him with a pillow? Would this fall in the category of assisted suicide? I'm all for ending someone's suffering if there is no hope, but being smothered with a pillow is not how I want to end my days!

[CaptainWaggett]

name='Joenoir']I'm sorry, I don't think there is enough information here for me. Did his lover ask him to smother him with a pillow? Would this fall in the category of assisted suicide? I'm all for ending someone's suffering if there is no hope, but being smothered with a pillow is not how I want to end my days!

The radio interview is available here. The chap was terminally ill and in extreme pain which couldn't be alleviated. Gosling seemed certain that the doctors knew what had happened. Not sure whether the poor guy actually asked to be smothered though.

[alan gowdy]

I used to enjoy Ray's quirky doumentaries many years ago, then he fell off the radar. I now understand that he's had a very bad time of it and this tragedy must be the lowest point. I imagine legal action will be contemplated.

[Dandy Forsdyke]

I saw this on the late news.



I'm not sure I believe he's telling the truth ...

[darrenburnfan]

Strange thing was that on the television news, they said that his partner was still not named, but then showed Ray visiting his late partner's grave with the name in big gold letters on the headstone. I can't remember the name now, but others must have noticed it.



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From The Times

February 17, 2010



Ray Gosling will refuse to co-operate with police over 'mercy killing' of lover



By David Brown and Patrick Foster



A BBC presenter who confessed on television to carrying out a mercy killing on a lover who was dying from Aids will refuse to co-operate with a police investigation.



Ray Gosling said that he would not tell detectives the name of the young partner he claimed to have smothered with a pillow as he lay in hospital more than 20 years ago.



Nottinghamshire Police said yesterday that detectives had started an investigation after Gosling’s claims on the BBC East Midlands Inside Out programme on Monday night.



The freelance presenter said that he had no regrets about his actions and would not tell police the circumstances to honour a pact with his lover. “I’m not going to tell [the police] anything,” said Gosling, 70, when asked whether he had considered that he might go to jail over his admission. “There are different kinds of law, you know. There’s a law that’s written in law books and there’s a law in your heart ... Different laws carry different weights at different times.”



Gosling yesterday denied suggestions that he had made up the claim and said that he had informed some of his lover’s relatives about the killing.



The BBC said that it would “co-operate fully” with the police and defended its decision not to inform them of the claims for two months after the programme was filmed. A spokesman said. “In line with production guidelines, our team spoke to the BBC legal department and the editorial policy team about the implications of the confession and the programme.”



BBC sources said that they had no reason to doubt the claim by Gosling, an award-winning documentarymaker. In 2007 he won a Grierson award for Ray Gosling OAP, on BBC Four, which followed his struggle after being declared bankrupt.

Gosling said that the killing did not happen in the East Midlands but somewhere near by. He travelled the country as one of the BBC’s most recognisable presenters in the 1960s and 1970s and had rented rooms in Covent Garden, Central London, and in Northampton, where he was raised.



The veteran gay rights campaigner said that the killing was in the “very, very early days of Aids” which suggests the mid-1980s when there was no effective treatment for the condition. “I will not tell them [the police] anything. They will not know when, where, not a thing,” Gosling said. “What’s the point of telling them? It was a private pact between us.”



Gosling said that he was not “making a cause” for assisted dying but said that there was a case for changing the law. “Sometimes doctors do it on their own. Sometimes people do it on their own,” he said. “And if it happens to a lover or friend of yours, a husband, a wife, and I hope it doesn’t, but when it does sometimes you have to do brave things.”



Care Not Killing, the anti-euthanasia group, said that the BBC’s decision not to inform the police would fuel concerns that the corporation is not covering the issue in an even-handed manner. The group has accused the broadcaster of putting pressure on the Director of Public Prosecutions and Parliament by giving disproportionate coverage to emotive cases.



The Crown Prosecution Service said that there was no legal obligation to report a crime. However, a spokeswoman added: “Generally the advice is if you think that an offence might have been committed to contact the police as soon as possible.”



Sarah Wootton, of Dignity in Dying, said: “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.”

[Windthrop]

name='darrenburnfan']Strange thing was that on the television news, they said that his partner was still not named, but then showed Ray visiting his late partner's grave with the name in big gold letters on the headstone. I can't remember the name now, but others must have noticed it.

Could have been a decoy

[Windthrop]

Old Ray is adamant he will not cooperate with the police. Anyone who saw his documentaries will know he is one stubborn customer.



http://http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ne...-of-lover.html

[Joenoir]

name='darrenburnfan']Strange thing was that on the television news, they said that his partner was still not named, but then showed Ray visiting his late partner's grave with the name in big gold letters on the headstone. I can't remember the name now, but others must have noticed it.



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It wasn't his partner, but "a bit on the side". There are a lot of holes in this story methinks.

[Maurice]

BBC News



Ray Gosling has been arrested, on suspicion of murder, by Nottinghamshire Police.