John Lennon's killer Mark Chapman has been denied parole for the ninth time since the former Beatle's murder stunned the world in 1980.

The New York state Board of Parole announced its decision in relation to Chapman, 61, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving a sentence of 20 years to life in western New York's Wende Correctional Facility.

The parole board noted that Chapman - who shot and killed the star outside New York's Dakota building - has described the murder as "selfish and evil".

But it concluded that his contrition and other factors supporting his release were outweighed by the premeditated and "celebrity-seeking" nature of the crime.

Image: Former Beatle John Lennon was gunned down outside his luxury apartment block

The board said: "Your release would be incompatible with the welfare of society and would so deprecate that seriousness of the crime as to undermine respect for the law."


Chapman will be eligible to seek parole again in 2018.

He was last denied parole in 2014, when he said he still received letters about the pain he caused in his pursuit of notoriety.

"I am sorry for causing that type of pain," he said.

"I am sorry for being such an idiot and choosing the wrong way for glory."

In a 1992 interview Chapman told of the moment when Lennon got out of a limousine and approached him after he asked for an autograph.

Chapman said: "I heard this voice - not an audible voice, an inaudible voice - saying over and over, 'Do it, do it, do it'.

"I thought that by killing him I would acquire his fame."

At a 2010 hearing, Chapman said he had considered shooting Johnny Carson or Elizabeth Taylor instead, but settled on Lennon because the ex-Beatle was more accessible as his century-old apartment building by Central Park "wasn't quite as cloistered".