Bullet from gun that killed John Lennon to be auctioned
A BULLET from the gun which killed John Lennon, which was given to a North East policeman on a trip to New York, is to be sold on Tyneside.
The bullet from the revolver used by Lennon’s killer Mark Chapman was presented to the late Brian Taylor, who retired as chief superintendent divisional commander at South Tyneside. The framed bullet from Mr Taylor’s North East family will be sold, with an estimate of £1,500-£2,000, by Newcastle auctioneer Anderson & Garland on February 27.
Newcastle-born Mr Taylor had a long and distinguished career with Newcastle City and then Northumbria Police. In 1982 the then detective chief inspector Taylor transferred to the new Community Services police department, working in areas such as crime prevention and schools liaison.
In 1984 he was chosen to represent the British police in a crime prevention exchange visit to New York. During the visit, with New York Police Department officers, he was involved in a shooting incident where he was the only policeman who was unarmed, but escaped unscathed.
“As a memento the NYPD gave me a bullet from the gun which shot John Lennon,” wrote Mr Taylor in a family document.
On the evening of December 8, 1980, Lennon was shot and fatally wounded by 25-year-old Mark David Chapman, in the archway of the Dakota apartments which he and Yoko Ono were using as their base in New York city. Lennon died from four bullet wounds to his chest and shoulder.
Mr Taylor had been accompanied to New York by schoolchildren who had won a place on the trip through a TV show’s ‘Super Sleuth’ competition. In 1986 he again represented British police in a similar crime prevention trip to San Francisco.
Mr Taylor was educated at Cowgate Infants, Pendower Junior and Rutherford Grammar schools. He joined Newcastle city police and was a beat officer in the city centre from 1959-62, and in 1963 he was appointed as a divisional detective.
In 1975 he was promoted to the rank of Detective Inspector at Whitley Bay and in 1985 transferred to Northumbria Police headquarters at Ponteland as force crime prevention officer.