John Lennon's killer has finally revealed the real reason he shot the Beatles legend in New York City back in 1980.
As we approach the 45th anniversary of the horrific murder, which saw the iconic musician lose his life at the age of just 40, killer Mark David Chapman remains behind bars.
Chapman was recently denied parole on what was his 14th attempt at regaining his freedom, and it was in this hearing that he opened up a bit more about his decision to shoot the star nearly five decades ago.
Lennon, who will be portrayed by Harris Dickinson in the upcoming Beatles biopic, was leaving his apartment building in New York alongside Yoko Ono when he was shot four times in the back by Chapman, who was just 25 at the time.
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The killer has previously admitted that he related to Holden Caulfield, the main character from JD Salinger's popular novel The Catcher in the Rye, and he believed that Lennon was a 'phony' - someone who is fake or insincere.
But now, he's revealed another twisted motive behind the murder, which originally saw him slapped with a 20 years to life sentence, as the 70-year-old faces spending the rest of his days behind bars.
Speaking to a parole board from the Green Haven Correctional Facility in August, Chapman said as per the New York Post: “This was for me and me alone, unfortunately, and it had everything to do with his popularity.
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“My crime was completely selfish.”
When asked by a commissioner why he wanted to murder Lennon, he said: “To be famous, to be something I wasn’t.
“And then I just realised, hey, there is a goal here. I don’t have to die and I can be a somebody. I had sunk that low.
“That morning of the 8th, I just knew. I don’t know how I knew but I just knew that was going to be the day that I was going to meet and kill him.”
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Despite apologising to Lennon's family and his fans, the parole board ruled that Chapman lacked 'genuine remorse or meaningful empathy' for the victims of his horrific crime and he won't be able to apply again until 2027.
“This was a human being,” he said, referring to Lennon.
“Here I am living so much longer, and not just family but his friends and the fans, I apologise for the devastation that I caused you, the agony that they must have gone through. I had no thought about that at all at the time of the crime, I didn’t care.
“I don’t have any interest at all in being famous. Put me under the rug somewhere. I don’t want to be famous anymore, period.”
James Moorhouse