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Mark David Chapman, who killed John Lennon, has told a parole board he killed the legendary Beatles frontman because he wanted “fame”.

The 67-year-old prisoner was up for parole in August 2022 and was denied for the 12th time.

In a transcript released by New York officials on Monday under a freedom of information request, he said he knew his decision to kill Lennon was “wrong” and “evil”.

Pop star and former Beatles member John Lennon was murdered in 1980. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

"I am not going to blame anything else or anybody else for bringing me there," Chapman told the board. "I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was evil, I knew it was wrong, but I wanted the fame so much that I was willing to give everything and take a human life."

He continued: "This was evil in my heart. I wanted to be somebody, and nothing was going to stop that."

Chapman is currently serving his life sentence at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York, for the murder of Lennon on 8 December 1980.

The former security guard gunned down Lennon, 40, with a 38-calibre revolver as he entered his apartment building, The Dakota, in New York.

He was a lifelong Beatles fan and had stopped Lennon a few hours before the attack for an autograph on the copy of the album Double Fantasy.

Chapman remained at the scene of the shooting reading J. D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, until he was arrested by police.

At previous parole hearings, he has expressed remorse for killing Lennon and recently accepted that his actions have consequences. "I hurt a lot of people all over the place, and if somebody wants to hate me, that’s OK, I get it," he said.

Crowds gathering outside the home of John Lennon in New York after the news that he had been shot and killed. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Parole board members denied his release due to a "selfish disregard for human life of global consequence.”

They also told Chapman that his actions left "the world recovering from the void of which you created".

Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, has repeatedly argued against Chapman’s release over fears that he would endanger her and her sons.

Chapman’s next parole board appearance is scheduled for February 2024.

Mark David Chapman: John Lennon’s killer had ‘evil in heart’ when he murdered The Beatles frontman for fame