EXCLUSIVE: Research throws doubt on the murder of John Lennon in New York

British author David Whelan has examined fatal shooting on December 8, 1980

He has unearthed many documents that suggest cops misunderstood murder

A three-year investigation into the murder of John Lennon has unearthed a series of extraordinary inconsistencies - including the suggestion that detectives may have fundamentally misunderstood how the shooting happened.

British author and TV producer David Whelan has exhaustively examined Lennon's fatal shooting on December 8, 1980, as he and his wife Yoko Ono returned to their home in the Dakota Building overlooking New York's Central Park.

Whelan has unearthed a trove of documents relating to the killing, including gunman Mark Chapman's 'hit list' - published for the first time here - which as well as the former Beatle also featured Marlon Brando and former First Lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis.