British music legend John Lennon's killer apologized to the singer's widow for taking his life.
Mark Chapman apologized to Ono nearly 40 years after he assassinated The Beatles’ front man outside his New York apartment.
Addressing the parole board at the Wende Correctional Facility in New York, Chapman said: "I just want to reiterate that I'm sorry for my crime. I have no excuse. This was for self-glory. I think it's the worst crime that there could be to do something to someone that's innocent.”
He also said that he deserved a death sentence for his ‘despicable’ act which he thinks about all the time during his time behind bars while also accepting that he will have to spend his entire life in detention.
"He was extremely famous. I didn't kill him because of his character or the kind of man he was. He was a family man. He was an icon. He was someone that spoke of things that now we can speak of and it's great,” he said.
“I assassinated him, to use your word earlier, because he was very, very, very famous and that's the only reason and I was very, very, very, very much seeking self-glory, very selfish."
“I want to add that and emphasise that greatly. It was an extremely selfish act. I'm sorry for the pain that I caused to her [Ono]. I think about it all of the time,” he added.
The killer’s apology comes after he was rejected parole for the 11th time last month in August.
Ono had told The Daily Beast in 2015 how she was extremely fearful about Chapman committing the heinous crime again if he was released.
"One thing I think is that he did it once, he could do it again, to somebody else - you know. It could be me, it could be Sean [her son], it could be anybody, so there is that concern," she said.
Lennon, 40, was shot four times by Chapman outside his Dakota apartment building in the Upper West Side on December 8, 1980. The singer was accompanied by his wife Yoko Ono when the incident occurred.
Chapman after shooting Lennon had stayed at the scene reading a copy of The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, until he was arrested upon the police’s arrival.
His killer, driven by the longing for notoriety, had initially been eligible for parole in 2000. He had disclosed in previous hearings how he still receives letters filled with grief he caused by taking the life of a beloved musician.