John Lennon’s killer has been denied parole for an 11th time and will remain behind bars for at least another two years, a representative for the New York parole board told the PA news agency.

Mark David Chapman, 65, shot dead the former Beatle outside Lennon’s Manhattan apartment in December 1980.

He is serving a 20-year-to-life sentence at Wende Correctional Facility in New York.

The New York State Board of Parole said Chapman’s parole was denied following an interview on August 19. He is next scheduled to appear before the board in 2022.

The reasons for the denial were not immediately available.

Lennon was 40 when he was shot four times outside the Dakota apartment building in the Upper West Side on December 8 1980, as wife Yoko Ono looked on.

Chapman, who admitted the murder was motivated by a thirst for notoriety, was first eligible for parole in 2000.

In previous hearings, he told how he was still receiving anguished letters about the pain he caused by murdering a revered musician.

Ono, who married Lennon in 1969, had previously opposed Chapman’s release, saying she feared for her safety and that of Lennon’s two sons, Julian and Sean, should he be freed.