A retired GP in Scotland who supports the legalisation of assisted dying has spoken publicly for the first time about how he, when in practice, helped three patients end their lives.

Iain Kerr, 66, told BBC Radio Scotland and the Herald newspaper that he had supplied drugs in three cases where patients thought that their lives had become intolerable and were considering suicide. Each case had been reported to the prosecuting authorities, which had decided that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute.

The General Medical Council suspended Kerr, who practised in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, for …