Gosling admits to wasting police time

Broadcaster Ray Gosling has pleaded guilty to wasting police time after his on-air claim about killing a terminally ill former lover was found to be "false".

The 71-year-old filmmaker was charged over statements he made to BBC Breakfast's Bill Turnbull in February.

Gosling was initially arrested on suspicion of murder, but the charges were later reduced to wasting police time after his confession was determined to be baseless.

At Nottingham Magistrates' Court, Gosling apologised for any distress he had caused with the mercy killing claim, which was first broadcast on the Inside Out programme on February 15.

"I killed someone once. He was a young chap, he'd been my lover and he got AIDS," he said on the show.

"I picked up the pillow and smothered him until he was dead."

The following day, Gosling repeated the confession during an interview on BBC Breakfast, but prosecutors decided that there was enough evidence to "provide a realistic prospect of proving that Mr. Gosling's confession was false".

While entering his guilty plea to the charge of wasting police time, Gosling said: "Digby Johnson, my solicitor, tells me technically I am guilty.

"I just want to say, very clearly and very strongly, sorry to my lover's family and for the distress I have caused them and sorry that apparently I have wasted police time."

Gosling was given a 90-day suspended sentence this afternoon.