BBC television presenter Ray Gosling is to be charged with wasting police time after claiming on air that he smothered his terminally ill lover.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Mr Gosling, 71, of Nottingham, should be charged over claims he made to BBC Breakfast’s Bill Turnbull in February.

He was arrested on suspicion of murder and freed on bail after the broadcast.

Mr Gosling, who received his summons earlier, said: “I’m sorry if the police think they wasted their time.”

He said he was also sorry if there had been any hurt caused to the family of his former lover, who had been dying of Aids.

Mr Gosling first made his claim in a BBC Inside Out documentary about so-called mercy killings, broadcast on 15 February.

He was interviewed by Mr Turnbull about his claims on the Breakfast programme the following day.