TRANSCRIPT - Blood And Fire: The Murders Of Peter Tosh And John Lennon

[Music] This podcast contains descriptions of death and violence that some listeners may find upsetting. Hello and welcome to the Six O’clock Knock the true crime podcast that takes a fresh look at murder I’m Simon Ford a journalist and broadcaster with 20 odd years in the business and I’m Jacques Morrell 30 years of British police officer and detective I spent many an hour on the press benches of various courts reporting on the kind of crimes that Jacques spent his career detecting now the English legal system has influenced many others around the world our system of common law or case law originated in the practices of the courts of the English kings following the Norman conquest in 1066 and to be clear Scotland wasn't conquered by the Normans which is why the Scottish legal system is different from the one in England and wales absolutely and comparisons as the saying goes are odious now the British empire imposed that English legal system on its far-flung colonies many of which retained the common law system today these systems give great weight to judicial precedent today of course there's no British empire but one third of the world's population lives in common law jurisdictions including Jamaica and that other former colony the united states of America [Music] Jamaica declared its independence from Britain in 1962 but remained a member of the commonwealth and it's to Jamaica that we are heading today then we'll look at a second case also from over the Atlantic both cases are very different but both involve the murder of prominent musical artists and both involve firearms our main focus is that of the murder of Winston Hubert McIntosh better known as Peter Tosh Jamaican reggae artist [Music] Peter Tosh was the baritone who left Bob Marley and the Wailers went solo and worked with the Rolling Stones among others the one who learned how to ride a unicycle and rode onto the stage on it that's him his other claim to fame he was shot and killed in 1987. We’ll compare his murder to the fatal shooting of John Winston Lennon British musician founder member of the Beatles shot and killed seven years earlier in 1980. I suppose everyone remembers where they were when a celebrity gets murdered I’ll be honest though Peter Tosh was less well known in our household but John Lennon now his murder took place on the evening of Monday the 8th of December 1980 in New York five hours behind London time so I woke up to the news on Tuesday the ninth now my dad had bought a colour tv in time for Christmas and John Lennon’s murder was one of the first stories I saw in colour on the tv news John Lennon is dead shot several times by a young American as he was going into his home in New York the former Beatle who was 40 was returning home from a recording studio with his wife Yoko Ono when he was murdered it took a few days for the enormity of what had happened to sink in the significance of the talent that had been lost but there was a school assembly I remember where John Lennon’s music was played in tribute and even some of the teachers were moved to tears it was one of those moments that made me want to record significant events and I guess set me on the path to becoming a journalist now I know very little about Peter Tosh but you're a fan aren't you Jacques tell me something about the man and his music well from what I know his childhood was one of survival he was abandoned by his parents and moved around between relatives now this was rural Jamaica and when his aunt died he moved to trench town in Kingston aged about 15. his introduction to music was amazing though he used to sit and watch a man playing guitar in the street now this man only played the one tune but Tosh was mesmerized after seeing him many times Tosh picked up the guitar and played the song back to the man the man asked him who taught him to play guitar and Tosh replied you have he'd learned by watching Tosh then learned some singing skills from a guy who gave free music lessons to young people and it was there he met Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer who were doing the same thing and as they say the rest is history that's fascinating and do you recall where you were when the news of these deaths was reported yes and no I was working full-time in 1987 and while I have some Peter Tosh records at home I don't remember where I was when news of his death broke I guess as a young cop working shifts I was just too busy to follow the news I can remember clearly when the news of Lennon’s death happened the difference is that I was 17 years old in 1980 and there's something about teenage memories that seem stronger isn't there that's very true yeah I’d agree with that my memory of the first colour tv and the teachers in tears that kind of thing it's just frozen there somehow that moment crystallized and when I think about it it's as though I’m back in my tiny box of a bedroom it's just big enough for a single bed wardrobe a chair and a bedside cabinet I had a radio alarm clock I can picture it now it had an illuminated red digital display classic seventies I was listening to the morning show on radio one the DJ I think was Mike Reed and I could hear something different in his voice he was emotional and struggling for words I knew then how much of a big deal it was as the whole show was a news item with a few John Lennon songs for those people who do not know and it may have just joined us John Lennon died earlier today as the result of what seems to be one of those idiotic and pointless attacks by someone who probably didn't even know him he was shot dead in New York about four o'clock GMT yes I remember now we had the BBC news on in the kitchen and John Lennon was shot four times in the back his killer Mark David Chapman waited for the police to arrive and immediately admitted what he'd done well Peter Tosh was killed on the 11th of September 1987. he was shot during a robbery at his home in Kingston Jamaica his killers though didn't hang around for the police to arrive they were arrested later one man was convicted of the crime Dennis Lobben although he still maintains his innocence now these murders were seven years apart and happened in very different circumstances the only connection being both were musicians and both were shot in cold blood and both men shared the same full name of Winston don't forget yes that's an interesting coincidence isn't it I wonder if it's significant the motive for their killings is very different while their respective killers are still in jail what would have happened to them if their victims had not been famous artists almost certainly released I guess what we also want to do is to expand on the detail and then consider whether there's a similarity in the mindset of the killers the killers of both Peter Tosh and John Lennon I guess it's hard for us in the UK to appreciate the place that guns have in society in both the USA and Jamaica but the fact remains that nearly 40 years after the murders of John Lennon and Peter Tosh firearms are disproportionately used in killings in both countries the united states relationship with guns and gun control is well documented and according to a survey in 2017 Jamaica is one of the most armed countries per head of population in the world it seems so alien to us in the UK we have some of the strictest firearms controls in the world although to an extent some of that gun culture has spread over here Jamaican law allows firearm ownership on what's called a may issue basis their gun laws were tightened up in the early 1970s due to a rising criminal gangs and political violence the people's national party was led by Michael Manley a socialist who was branded a communist the Jamaica labour party was led by Edward Sega and was the right wing party polarized politics again and of course Bob Marley was also shot during this period but survived yes he um some would say naively offered to perform a free concert for prime minister manly then an election was called and Marley was branded a manly supporter that's very true it was like a civil war in the 1970s downtown Kingston was divided on sectarian lines a bit like Northern Ireland the thing is that the gun culture had become ingrained in the dancehall culture too as a former British police officer did you experience that Jamaican gun culture yes to an extent early in my career I remember dealing with a domestic incident we'd managed to detain the man after a struggle and he was from Jamaica and while we were driving to the police station he said that if we were back in Jamaica he'd have shot me I think I replied with something like well that's a bit extreme and was that a common experience oh yes I mean don't forget police officers have to deal with people under stress and in high emotion and the arrest makes situations worse verbal threats towards the police are common most threats are along the lines of I’ll batter you if I see you off duty and that's why the threat of being shot was a bit extreme and what about the dancehall culture you mentioned there's an article from the guardian in 2001 that says Jamaican dance or music is endlessly preoccupied with the gun many DJs have a device on their mixer that mimics the sound of a gunshot even in the sleepiest village a dance event can sound from a distance like a gun battle guns occupy such a central role in Jamaican culture that it's common to see posters outside that say things like leave your machine and bring your queen right I remember a few years ago there was a community centre that hosted a regular dance for the Jamaican community it had been closed temporarily after an incident and we had to search and photograph the main dance hall we found bullet holes and bullets in the ceiling there have been no reports about this from what we were told they'd been there for some time and the weapons had presumably been discharged quite casually it was nothing more than to give the occasion an authentic Jamaican dancehall feel yeah quite and that guardian newspaper article continues recent violence has seen 23 people shot dead bearing in mind this is 2001 but a former Jamaican resident says guns are an integral part of island life now you know in the interests of fairness I’m bound to say this report is 19 years old and boy a lot can happen in 19 years plus I’ve never been to Jamaica neither Jacques nor I are from a West Indian community and if I know anything about human nature which I think I do it will be a minority of Jamaicans who get their country a reputation for violence just like so many other parts of the world for which you can partly blame the media blame me and if you'd like your say on the matter please do contact us on twitter where we are at six knock wise words indeed now let's look at one of the consequences of a firearm being discharged the death of Peter Tosh how did the internationally known artist Peter Tosh second only in fame to the legendary bob Marley come to be killed an article in the Jamaican observer helps to explain the journalist is Sybil Hibbert Sybil was not only a court reporter she was also the wife of the officer in charge of the investigation detective superintendent Isadore Hibbert a marriage between a court reporter and a senior police officer now that would make for some interesting dinner party conversations yeah I was just thinking that and there's even a dodgy cop involved in the actual case too to add extra spice to the whole movie-like scenario there were several witnesses to the killing Peter Tosh and his partner Marlene Brown were entertaining a number of guests at their home in Kingston there was his friend Jeff Free Eye Dixon and his wife joy along with other friends and musicians Wilton doc Brown Michael Robinson and Santa Davis Peter Tosh had been part of the wailers from 1963 1970 they were a trio the others were Bunny Livingston and of course bob Marley Tosh was known for his biting lyrics and radical disposition that endeared him to those who opposed the establishment he even carried a guitar in the shape of an M16 rifle and it was ironic or maybe inevitable that a firearm would bring about his death the only person ever convicted of the murders was a 33 year old man by the name of Dennis Lobban known also as Leppo the court heard that Peter Tosh had been friends with Leppo for years since their days in trench town the poor area of Kingston where many rural Jamaicans settled when they came to find work the district was full of cheaply built dwellings clustered round central courtyards with communal kitchens and lavatories the court heard how Tosh had supported and helped Leppo Tosh even let him stay at his house after a spell in prison Tosh may have moved on from trench town but he continued to live his Rastafarian lifestyle looking after others less fortunate but he was now living six miles away from trench town in an affluent neighbourhood his house looked down over Kingston from the hillside that rises up to the scenic blue mountains its spacious airy rooms opened onto balconies through large patio doors Leppo had visited Plymouth avenue several times and was familiar with the dogs that guarded the house the word on the street was that Leppo had taken the wrap for Tosh done time for him and felt betrayed by his celebrity buddy but that wasn't the evidence that came out in court it was Marlene Brown's testimony that was crucial she said that she and Tosh were at home with friends enjoying what she called a private peaceful evening watching a program by satellite in their living room amid drinks and subdued laughter the peace was shattered by the unexpected entry of Leppo accompanied by two unidentified gunmen the party-goers were ordered to belly it meaning lie face down p also demanded US currency Peter Tosh had not long come back from a business trip to the united states where he was expected to be paid in US dollars apparently Leppo had overheard telephone conversations about this business trip it appeared that he had planned the robbery to coincide with his return Tosh told him he had no money Marlene Brown also claimed that Leppo had also accused her of coming between him and Tosh saying she had broken up their friendship but there was another crucial witness the man called Michael Robinson his account starts with the arrival of Leppo and his henchman at Peter Tosh's mansion there was a knock at the door Marlene Brown asked Robinson to answer it everyone expected it to be their friend named Free Eye and his wife but it wasn't Michael’s words are spoken by an actor I saw that it was not free but it was somebody who visit the yard regularly named Leppo he being a regular visitor I backed off the dogs and told him and his friends to come in which they did as I entered this reception area two of them pulled guns and said repeat march upstairs enter the living room everyone face down Michael Robinson’s account was just as Marlene Brown had said but what was the motive for these men asking to speak to Peter Tosh Michael Robinson continued I was lying on the ground you know still constantly asking for the money US dollars Peter said they could search the house and take anything they want we argue with the man open fire they fire single shot first that caught Marlene in the head they fired two more shot at Peter in the head then open a barrage of shut after the adrenaline kicked in and when the first person opened fire did they panic having found several people in the house were the gunman nervous about being challenged well before the guns were discharged Leppo instructed his accomplices to disarm Tosh as he was known to be a black belt in martial arts Tosh was frisked and struck over the head with a pistol when Marlene objected to some of the remarks made by Leppo witnesses testified that Leppo threatened to kill Tosh who was sprawled helpless on the floor it was then that the DJ named Free Eye real name Jeff Dixon and his wife arrived they walked right into the stick up they're bundled inside in order to lie face down on the floor when free eye objected he got the muzzle of a gun jabbed into his side after which he did exactly as he was told Leppo and his crew stripped the party guests of their jewellery and other personal effects when the shooting stopped Tosh free eye and a third man Wilton Brown were dead Marlene Brown who'd been shot first was still conscious and lying in the dark corner of the room petrified with a bullet lodged in the back of her skull she somehow managed to stay still Marlene was asked whether the incident was a robbery that had gone wrong in her statement she was very clear on her view them used that as an excuse me no care me no said it was said was ordered to come tonight Peter you're dead tonight we can't kill you ten words there may never forget so it seems the prime motive was to murder Tosh and if they got away with a few wallets and Rolexes well that was payment Marlene Brown and Michael Robinson both told the police they heard their attackers roar away on motorbikes however the senior investigating officer told the jury that Leppo was arrested thanks to the confession of a getaway car driver Steve Russell a local cabbie he claimed to have heard a volley of shots before driving the three men away from the Tosh residence now this is where the investigation got a bit messy how reliable was this confession well it wasn't help on the fact that the driver claimed to have sought advice from a police officer who surprise surprise denied any such conversation and it contradicted Brown and Robinson’s testimony about the killers being on motorbikes yes and in the early days of the investigation it was Russell the taxi driver who claimed that Leppo had asked him to take him and his crew to Peter Tosh's home Russell said he was not aware of the purpose of the visit he picked them up from the Carib theatre at crossroads a suburb of Kingston Russell was told to wait while Leppo and the others went to the house some time later Russell heard several gunshots then Leppo and the other two men came running back to the taxi each with gun in hand Leppo shouted to Russell drive drive the next day after hearing the news about the murders and not knowing what to do Russell sought advice from a police officer he knew constable Austin Russell claimed that pc Austin told him to keep quiet and for that reason Russell didn't go to the police station to report the matter unsurprisingly constable Austin denied that this conversation had ever taken place later a roman catholic priest took Leppo to CID headquarters where he was interviewed Leppo refused to name the others both Leppo and Russell were charged jointly with the murders of Peter Tosh free-eye and Wilton Brown [Music] in the course of the trial Leppo's defence team objected to the use of Russell’s confession they argued that the confession was false and that it had a prejudicial effect that outweighed its probative value in simple terms though Russell’s account added to the stack of witnesses who named Leppo and fingered him as the ringleader Russell was acquitted and walked free from court Leppo Lobban's defence was an alibi he also took the unusual step of giving evidence on oath from the witness box he claimed that Marlene Brown and Michael Robinson were both motivated by malice but Marlene Brown had called him a [ __ ] liar and a news carrier to Tosh in spite of all that he also accepted in court that he regularly ate food that she cooked for him he wanted to have his cake and eat it Leppo had a go at Michael Robinson too he claimed that Robinson was jealous of his close friendship with Tosh he recalled a time when Robinson asked Tosh for money Tosh gave Robinson less than he gave to Leppo because Leppo was his brother Leppo claimed that Robinson shunned and ignored and generally disrespected him too what I’m hearing here is that there was a lot of jealousy in these friendships I’ve seen it in poorer communities they tend to be more insular and people who have made money are always under pressure from their associates money corrupts if it's not handled carefully we also saw it in the way bob Marley lived his life their Rastafarian attitude was very free and easy they had become wealthy and they lived a good life but their open house attitude meant that there were many people who were vying for status and favours people were getting greedy and jealous cracks were showing in these friendships yeah and this guy Leppo had a problem he was a known criminal drug user and struggling to earn a living as a poet not only was he desperate for money he was also jealous of others who were close to Tosh he had an even bigger problem two of the people who survived the robbery were naming him as the gunman his problems got worse he was convicted on all counts I think the jury took six minutes to return the verdict well the case went to the appeal court twice and both times it was kicked out Dennis Leppo Lobban is still serving a term of life imprisonment behind the walls of the general penitentiary now the tower street adult correctional centre in Kingston another prisoner during his time there was the dodgy cop who was mixed up with the Steve Russell evidence disgraced former police constable Leonard Austin was later convicted of murdering a security supervisor employed at Kingston wharves limited it's no wonder the Jamaican government introduced those drastic measures in the 1970s jury free courts for firearm murders these witnesses and the jurors needed to be protected so we've seen the evidence in the murder of Peter Tosh don't forget that Wilton doc Brown and free eye were also killed and then there was the wounding of four others Carlton Santa Davis a drummer in Peter Tosh's band free eye's wife Yvonne and Michael Robinson we've got an idea about the culture in Jamaica at the time and whilst we accept the evidence of Marlene Brown and her opinion that they came to kill Peter Tosh that night there is nothing really to say other than in the culture of trench town people were shot over petty squabbles and jealousies he couldn't shake off the culture of blood and fire that surrounds reggae music Peter Tosh advocated smoking marijuana he recorded the album and single legalize it in 1976 and often smoke huge spliffs on stage in 1978 before a crowd of 30 000 in Kingston which included prime minister manly Mr Tosh puffed a spliff and berated manly for 30 minutes for refusing to legalize ganja Tosh had several run-ins with the police and was jailed for possessing marijuana in the mid-1960s in early 1975 he wrote the anti-police song mark of the beast which was banned from Jamaican radio even in death Tosh was authentic now whoever said that was right [Music] so Jacques your police career took place in a big city in the uk did that city have an identifiable Jamaican population yes there was a significant and settled Jamaican community and they were very proud of their roots and their heritage the same as anywhere else I got on with the vast majority of people I formed lasting friendships and a lifelong love of reggae music and just like any community folk disliked the criminal element intensely what I did notice was that the Jamaican community was like a big village so that even in a large city people tended to be quite insular I think that's just a state of mind that people brought to Britain between the late 1940s and the 1970s I don't want to generalize but lots of them came from villages where everyone knew each other and when they were disputes they run deep now as a police officer I needed to understand different cultures in order to do my job let's face it there've been lots of cases where the police have got it wrong for me personally the more I knew about the people in my patch the less likely I was to make mistakes being able to empathize meant I appreciated why some people in the community distrusted the police it stemmed in part from their experiences in Kingston Jamaica trust is a fragile thing and I spent my career nurturing it it was part and parcel of my duty as a police officer you mentioned trench town a district of Kingston that was home to migrants from the countryside they came to find work and then found themselves right at the bottom of the ladder I imagine the experience of being there shaped people's attitudes towards basically anyone wearing a police uniform anywhere in the world absolutely even in the uk where the police don't routinely carry guns in my 30 years in the job I was never required to carry one if I’d been asked I’d have done so reluctantly did you visit Jamaica when you were in the job then I did I was there for a few days and it opened my eyes to how Jamaican people tick part of my responsibility was to ensure that a particular Jamaican man was back on Jamaican soil as we disembark the plane he asked me for a favour to speak up for him if he got a hard time from the police at the immigration desk because he expected to be interrogated about why he'd been out the country for so long he passed through the checkpoint without a problem and I thought that would be the last I would see of him about ten minutes later I was waiting for my hotel taxi and he appeared again he was hoping I could give him a lift he seemed more out of place than I did Did you see much of Kingston then yes a fair bit it's very much haves and have nots the world bank described Jamaica as a middle-income country but its development is being held back by crime and corruption my hotel was at port royal out in the bay and originally the main port in the Caribbean until it was destroyed by an earthquake about 300 years ago I remember taking a walk and discovering something covered by overgrown vegetation it was a very old wooden structure made of English oak it had been a warehouse in the original port I asked around and I was told that it was the largest prefabricated structure that had ever been transported from England I asked somewhat naively why this wasn't a tourist attraction after all Jamaica gets a quarter of its income from tourism the answer was quite blunt the locals feel very much let down and have no enthusiasm to celebrate the slavery and exploitation of the last 400 years not only that the earthquake killed 5 000 people more than half of whom died from disease in the aftermath they were not looked after well the locals also have a view on the criminal reputation of Jamaica they told me that port royal represented nothing good it may have been the busiest and wealthiest port in the Caribbean but it was built upon privateers and pirates at one time it was described as one of the wickedest places on earth I learned my lesson that ordinary Jamaicans have more pressing things to worry about than the ruins of an old warehouse fascinating well as you say the island of Jamaica has for 400 years been treated as a hedonistic trading port for colonial Europeans it's grown up with injustice greed poverty violence and whose fault is that certainly not the local populations back to that 2001 article in the guardian it says if you wanted someone killed you would send for a shooter from Kingston this was such a straightforward and inexpensive option that anything else seemed barely believable the island may have a reputation for violence but it is the capital that is almost entirely responsible for the shootings most Jamaicans are afraid of Kingston even the toughest young guys in the village would talk about Tivoli gardens or trench town in the way Manhattan stockbrokers speak of the Bronx to them Kingston was the home of the gunman yes and there's a video from 1987 that shows a reporter outside Tosh's house on Plymouth avenue it is nothing like the living conditions of trench town this is an affluent place on the edge of the urban area it looks down on Kingston as the land steadily rises towards those blue mountains Peter Tosh had made it hadn't he? He was an international star he deserved his fame and a more luxurious lifestyle he certainly did but the way Jamaican culture evolved it's difficult for people to get ahead racism is inescapable the colour of somebody's skin determines where they are on the social scale maybe less so today but 30 years ago undeniably so as a dark-skinned black man Peter Tosh would have been no stranger to inequality prejudice and struggle perhaps that's why in the Jamaica broadcasting corporation documentary about his death the reporter said that Peter Tosh could not shake off the culture of blood and fire that surrounds reggae music he had found his fame through a call to revolt and protest about inequality he was if anything authentic in fact the former prime minister Michael Manley described Tosh as having had integrity in his anger manly served as the fourth prime minister of Jamaica from 1972 to 1980 and then from 1989 to 1992 regarded as a socialist or a populist manly had studied economics in London and championed a democratic socialist program however he was in part a product of the old colonial past his father having been prime minister before Jamaican independence in 1962. throughout Manley’s tenure political violence in Jamaica was commonplace and when he lost the 1980 election this unrest reached a new peak there were 800 deaths recorded across the island nation and those are the ones we know about [Music] so Jacques we're trying to understand whether Peter Tosh was shot in a robbery that went wrong or was killed because of a dispute a jealous falling out between friends who had been once as close as brothers let's face it there were many people willing to kill for a price true all the theories and speculation do not detract from the fact that Leppo Lobban was named by the survivors he was rightly convicted Tosh had not sold out from his friends he'd been trying to run his home in a Rastafarian way sharing his hospitality he had in fact allowed Leppo to live with him for some time he'd actually try to keep his old friends and maintain his integrity maybe a lot of these cases involve jealousy and a deep-seated distrust of people with money and influence Leppo may have been acting for others or he may have been motivated by rage against injustice and inequality similar to the subjects of Peter Tosh's crusade we should also remember that Leppo Lobban has always maintained his innocence maybe so but what has he got to gain by admitting it now that's very true so we've looked at the murder of Peter Tosh where the killer was driven to deliberately kill a successful high-profile musician the motive may be somewhat vague but the deliberate targeting of a celebrity because they've somehow sold out is a strong one the killer had built up sufficient resentment and anger he regarded Tosh as a fraud who'd betrayed his followers Tosh is full from grace meant that in the eyes of Leppo Lobban at least he should be eliminated Dennis Leppo Lobban was a 33 year old higgler a street vendor he was also a dub poet who recited poetry to reggae music he had been convicted eight times including the illegal possession of firearms and armed robbery while still a relatively young man he was going nowhere stuck in a lifestyle of drugs music and violence is there any similarity to the man who killed John Lennon mark chapman may have nothing in common with Leppo Lobban they were from different countries and different cultures but maybe there was something similar in the motivation [Music] Mark David Chapman was 25 when he killed Lennon his father was a staff sergeant in the us air force Chapman stated he lived in fear of his father who was physically abusive towards his mother and unloving towards him chapman began to fantasize about having king-like power over a group of imaginary little people who lived in the walls of his bedroom by the time he was 14 chapman was using drugs skipping classes and running away from home at the age of 16 chapman became a born again presbyterian and began a career with the church supporting children and refugees it was during this period that chapman read JD Salinger's controversial novel the catcher in the rye this book would become a great personal significance to him he felt a connection with the alienation felt by the main character holden chapman sympathised with the character he also wanted to be the catcher in the rye to be able to stop children from growing up and having to face the angst of becoming an adult chapman's mental health began to suffer while studying at a presbyterian art college he began having suicidal thoughts and feeling like a failure he dropped out of college and moved to Hawaii where he attempted suicide he was then admitted to hospital and diagnosed with clinical depression in 1978 chapman went on a six-week trip around the world he visited Tokyo Seoul Hong Kong Singapore Bangkok Delhi Beirut Geneva Paris London and Dublin he began a relationship with his travel agent a japanese-american woman named Gloria Abi he married Gloria in 1979. chapman then worked as a printer at the hospital where he'd been treated for depression he was fired by the hospital rehired and then quit after an argument with a nurse he took a job as a night security guard he began drinking heavily during this period he developed a series of obsessions including artwork the catcher in the rye and the musician John Lennon in September 1980 he wrote a letter to a friend Linda Irish in which he stated I’m going nuts he signed the letter the catcher in the rye chapman had no criminal convictions prior to his trip to new York to kill Lennon well you couldn't get a more different profile of the two murderers chapman had previously been treated for his mental health and had no previous convictions whereas Leppo Lobban was a convicted criminal he may well have had mental health problems and all sorts going off in his life but in 1980s Kingston he was unlikely to be diagnosed let alone treated chapman on the other hand had openly developed an obsessive anger towards John Lennon and his celebrity status this may have been partly based on Lennon’s ill-judged comment in 1966 when he said the Beatles were more popular than Jesus it was clear though that chapman had been unable to cope with adulthood and maybe he was actually jealous and resentful of Lennon for coping not only with adulthood but also fame just prior to shooting him he'd spoken to Lennon and even got his autograph and thinking about Leppo he may not have spent years obsessing about Peter Tosh but it is clear that in the weeks before the murder he had become jealous and resentful of Tosh and his lifestyle whether the robbery had gone wrong he had taken something from Tosh and then snuffed him out in addition both Tosh and Lennon were naturally very accessible to others to their fans Tosh may have had an open door lifestyle in comparison to the privacy of Lennon’s new York apartment but Lennon was known to speak with his fans in the street and spend time signing autographs both Tosh and Lennon had remained true to themselves and both paid the ultimate price well that brings us to the end of another episode of the Six O’clock Knock if you haven't already you'll find us on Spreaker and wherever you get your podcasts please do like subscribe and all those other fabulous things that help us grow our audience and if you're able to please consider subscribing to our Patreon your donations help us keep digging and turning over those stones we welcome your views too we're on twitter at six knock how do we do is there something you'd like us to look into the governor's right your suggestion could become another gripping episode of the Six O’clock Knock the Six O’clock Knock is presented by Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell and produced by Paul Bradshaw and is available on every major listening app please help us spread the word by giving us a five star review and telling your friends to subscribe.