Police launched an investigation Tuesday after veteran British TV broadcaster Ray Gosling confessed on air to smothering his lover, who was dying of AIDS.
A spokesman said officers would be in touch with the BBC after Gosling's admission was aired on its 'Inside Out' program, broadcast at 7:30 p.m. GMT Monday.
The BBC did not alert the police in advance of the confession, which was reportedly recorded last November.
A police spokesman said: "We were not aware of Mr. Gosling's comments until the BBC Inside Out program was shown.
"We are now liaising with the BBC and will investigate the matter."
Gosling wept as he made his confession while walking through a graveyard.
“I killed someone once ... He was a young chap, he’d been my lover and he got AIDS," he said during the documentary on end-of-life decisions.
“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. 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 did not reveal the name of the lover but said it was a secret he kept for "quite a long time."
He claimed he and the young man made a pact that Gosling would help him to die if he was in intolerable pain and could not recover.
Aiding or abetting another person’s death remains illegal in England and Wales under the 1961 Suicide Act and is punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
Asked why he confessed, Gosling said that other people's stories in the program compelled him to be truthful.
"Everybody else had revealed themselves to me, and I felt I had to reveal myself to them," he said.
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