Broadcaster Ray Gosling has been given a 90-day suspended sentence for wasting police time, after claiming in a documentary that he had killed a dying lover, the BBC reports.
The Inside Out programme on mercy killings was broadcast in February and Gosling’s claims in it led to an initial arrest on suspicion of murder and a six-month police investigation. His sentence was handed out after the claims were determined to be false.
The BBC has also issued an apology for broadcasting Gosling’s claims:
In light of the plea given in court today we regret that we broadcast a claim by Ray Gosling which has effectively been withdrawn by him. We apologise to viewers and to those most closely involved for any distress this may have caused.