A BBC broadcaster told TV viewers that he carried out a mercy killing on a former lover who was suffering from Aids.
Ray Gosling, 70, revealed he had smothered the unnamed partner as he lay in hospital “in terrible, terrible pain”.
Speaking on the BBC East Midlands’ Inside Out current affairs programme, last night, Gosling said: “Maybe this is the time to share a secret that I have kept for quite a long time.
“I killed someone once… He was a young chap, he’d been my lover and he got Aids.”
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Strolling through a graveyard for a segment of the show about death, he broke down as he recalled the day he took his lover’s life.
He said: “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.
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“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 filmmaker of hundreds of radio and TV documentaries, said he had no regrets about his actions, adding: “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.
“He was in terrible pain, I was there and I saw it. It breaks you into pieces.”
But he admitted: “My feelings on euthanasia are like jelly – they wobble about.”
The presenter said he realised police may want to question him over the revelation.
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.
A BBC spokeswoman said: “We take considerable care to reflect all sides of the debate.”
She said police had not contacted the corporation. “If and when they do, we will co-operate fully,” she added.
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