John Lennon‘s killer Mark Chapman has been denied parole for a seventh time.
The 57-year-old, who shot Lennon in New York in December 1980, had applied for parole again this year, but was denied following a meeting of the New York State Board Of Parole, reports BBC News.
Sally Thompson, the New York State Board Of Parole’s ‘deciding board member’, wrote to Chapman to tell him of their decision and said that they had decided not to release him as they believed it would “undermine respect for the law and tend to trivialise the tragic loss of life”.
The New York State Board Of Parole said in its decision: “Despite your positive efforts while incarcerated, your release at this time would greatly undermine respect for the law and tend to trivialise the tragic loss of life which you caused as a result of this heinous, unprovoked, violent, cold and calculated crime.”
Chapman, a former security guard, was transferred to the maximum security Wende Correctional Facility in western New York state earlier this year.
He is next eligible for a parole hearing in August 2014.
Picture credit: Iain MacMillan