BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Lennon killer's signed LP on sale (original) (raw)

Lennon signed the album five hours before he was shot dead

A John Lennon album that Mark Chapman had signed hours before he killed the former Beatle has been put up for sale.

The Double Fantasy LP, which has a price tag of $525,000 (�305,000), was signed by Lennon when the star left his home in New York on 8 December 1980.

When he returned five hours later, he was shot four times in the back.

The album was found at the Dakota Building entrance by its current owner, who is now selling it through US autograph dealer Moments in Time.

The LP, which Lennon recorded with wife Yoko Ono, was the last he produced in his lifetime.

The LP, which was used as evidence, was found at the scene

Chapman's copy has the killer's forensically enhanced fingerprints on the cover.

Millions saw Lennon sign it in news footage and photographs shown after the shooting.

Moments in Time spokesman Bob Zafian said: "We are very excited to bring such a historically-significant piece to the market.

"I have never come across a piece with such provenance - police reports, fingerprint documentation, letters from the District Attorney, it goes on and on."

The album was used as evidence in Chapman's trial, when he was sentenced to life in prison. He was denied parole for a second time in October 2001.

Chapman had said that a voice in his head told him to shoot the star.

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