Lennon killer tapes to air

THE man who killed Ex-Beatle John Lennon almost 25 years ago considered himself a “white knight” on an unstoppable crusade, according to tapes to be aired on US TV.

Mark Chapman hoped that murdering the music legend in a hail of bullets would cement his identity.

“It was like a train, a runaway train, there was no stopping it,” he said.

Chapman, 50, was in his New York apartment thinking about The Beatles when he came up with the plan.

“The Catcher in the Rye was very prominent ...,” he said, referring to the novel by JD Salinger, “... and I remember saying in my mind, ‘What if I killed him?’.

“I remember thinking perhaps my identity would be found in the killing of John Lennon.”

Lennon died on December 8, 1980 when Chapman fired five bullets into the back of his head outside his Manhattan home.

Describing the killing, Chapman says on the tapes recorded in 1991 and 1992: “John Lennon’s car pulled up. I heard a voice in my head saying, ‘Do it ! Do it ! Do it !’.”

The tapes form part of a Channel 4 documentary, I Killed John Lennon, to be broadcast in Britain on the anniversary of his death. They will be aired for the first time on NBC’s Dateline this Friday.