The broadcaster Ray Gosling has said he smothered a former lover, who was apparently dying in hospital. The BBC implies that this was a case of assisted suicide, even though there is no suggestion in the report that the man who died was trying to kill himself.

On the facts as outlined by Gosling, this is not assisted suicide. This is murder.

Update: the BBC has updated its coverage to reflect the views of those who regard this as a confession to murder.

Two such cases have come to court in recent weeks: Frances Inglis was convicted of murder after injecting her brain-damaged son with a lethal dose of heroin. There was no suggestion that he had wanted to kill himself.

Kay Gilderdale was cleared of attempted murder after she admitted assisting in the suicide of her daughter, who had the disease ME. The charge would have been murder -- rather than attempted murder -- if it could have been shown that Mrs Gilderdale's actions caused her daughter's death.