BBC broadcaster who claimed he killed his sick lover is charged with wasting police time

UK broadcaster charged over mercy killing claim

LONDON — Britain’s prosecution service says a veteran broadcaster who claimed in a TV documentary to have carried out the mercy killing of his dying lover has been charged with wasting police time.

Prosecutor Helen Allen said Friday that 70-year-old Ray Gosling would appear at court to face the charge on Sept. 14.

In a BBC program broadcast in February, Gosling said he had suffocated his partner, who was dying of AIDS. He did not give the name of the man, or say where or when the incident took place.

Allen said police had conducted an extensive investigation and concluded there was no evidence to support Gosling’s claim.

Instead, they charged him with wasteful employment of the police, which carries a maximum punishment of six months’ jail.