The killer of Liverpool's famous son John Lennon has been denied parole for the sixth time.
Mark David Chapman's request was rejected by the New York State Division of Parole at a hearing on Tuesday
The decision comes just three months before the 30th anniversary of the former Beatle's murder, outside the musician's New York apartment block on 8th December 1980.
Chapman, then 25, approached 40-year-old Lennon to ask for his autograph. He then shot him four times in the back.
He was jailed for life in 1981 after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
Now 55, Chapman has served 29 years of his sentence at a maximum security Attica Correctional Facility in New York.
The former maintenance man has been eligible for parole every two years since 2000, but has been refused on each occasion.
He has, however, been allowed conjugal visits with wife Gloria, who he married in 1979, for the last 20 years.
The three-member parole board cited concerns "about the disregard you displayed for the norms of our society and the sanctity of human life."
The panel's concluded: "Discretionary release remains inappropriate at this time and incompatible with the welfare of the community."
Over the years, many letters have been sent to the New York State Division of Parole requesting that Chapman's parole be denied, including some from Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, who said last month she believed Chapman posed a risk to her, Lennon's two sons, the public and even to himself.
Ono's lawyer, Peter Shukat, told the New York Daily News that the 77-year-old was "very pleased" that Chapman would remain in prison.
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