US: An album cover autographed by John Lennon for Mark David Chapman, hours before Chapman murdered the former Beatle and music legend, has gone on sale on the Internet.
The signed cover of Lennon and Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy LP was found hidden behind a plant outside New York's Dakota building, where the Liverpool-born singer was shot dead.
It has been put on sale on the auction website momentsintime.com, with bids opening at $525,000.
The seller found the album cover at the bloodstained entrance to the building, shortly after the shooting in December 1980.
Chapman, then 25, did not flee the scene and never denied shooting Lennon.
Pictures of Lennon signing the album for Chapman appeared in the newspapers and on TV stations around the world.
The record cover was used in evidence against Chapman, who had his second parole bid rejected in October 2002.
Chapman's finger prints have been forensically enhanced on the sleeve.
This piece of crucial evidence against Chapman was turned into police and then returned to the owner with a letter of gratitude from the District Attorney.
Bob Zafian, a spokesman for the momentsintime.com website, said: "We are very excited to bring such a historically significant piece to the market.
"I have never come across a piece with such provenance; police reports, fingerprint documentation, letters from the District Attorney, it goes on and on".