Witnesses to John Lennon’s murder will speak publicly for the first time about the night the Beatle legend was shot dead by Mark David Chapman in a new Apple TV murder documentary

Witnesses to John Lennon’s murder will speak about the incident for the first time in a new documentary about the night he was killed.

The Beatles legend was shot dead in 1980 at the age of 40 by unhinged fan Mark Chapman outside his New York City home.

A new documentary on the murder by Apple TV+ titled ‘John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial’ will reveal never-before-seen crime scene photos that shed light on the death.

Some of Lennon’s closest friends will provide their reports and it will feature the first on-screen interview with one of Chapman’s lawyers.

The police officers who were first on the scene of the murder, the medics who tried to save Lennon and the detective who investigated the murder will also be discussed.

Mark David Chapman, the man who shot and killed John Lennon outside his Manhattan apartment building in 1980

A crowd gathered outside the building where Lennon lived after he was shot dead in 1980

Producers secured access to the New York City Police Department, the Board of Parole and district attorney documents for the three-part documentary, which is expected to air later this year.

It will aim to explore Lennon’s effect on society. The series is produced by 72 Films and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland. MailOnline has contacted Apple TV+ for comment.

It comes next Sir Paul McCartney told how he would have been wracked with guilt if he had not restored his friendship with him Lennon before he was killed.

John left The Beatles in 1969 and had become embroiled in legal battles over the band’s back catalogue, causing tension between him and his former songwriter Sir Paul, now 81.

John Lennon at a press conference in New York on May 13, 1968

In the mid-1970s they rekindled their friendship and Sir Paul spent time at the house John shared with his second wife Yoko Ono in New York.

But Sir Paul admits he would have been devastated if he had not had the chance to mend the cracks in his relationship with John before he was killed.

Sir Paul said on the McCartney: A Life in Lyrics podcast: ‘In the end I was very happy when he was killed, that I had had a really good time with him before that happened.

“It would have been the worst thing in the world if he had just been murdered and we were still in a bad relationship. That would have been a big guilt trip for me.

‘Luckily we were friendly, we talked about baking bread.

‘You have to remember that I took him to court, and his friends from Liverpool, friends for life, to court. There is still a lot to be done.’

The man who shot Lennon outside his New York City apartment building in 1980 told a parole board that he knew it was wrong to kill the beloved former Beatle, but that he was looking for fame and “the evil in my heart ‘ had.

Chapman made these comments before a committee that denied him parole for the twelfth time, citing his “selfish disregard for human life with global consequences.”

Chapman said in a transcript released by state officials in 2022 that the decision to kill Lennon was, “My big answer to everything.” I wouldn’t be a nobody anymore.’

“I’m not going to blame anything else or anyone else for taking me there,” Chapman told the board.

“I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was bad, I knew it was wrong, but I wanted fame so badly that I was willing to give it all and take a human life.”

Chapman murdered Lennon on the night of December 8, 1980, as he and Yoko Ono returned to their Upper West Side apartment.

Earlier that day, Lennon had signed Chapman on a copy of his recently released album ‘Double Fantasy’.

Chapman told the board, “This was evil in my heart. I wanted to be someone and nothing could stop that.’