John Lennon jacket sells for £7,000

The jacket had been estimated to fetch between £8,000 and £12,000

A jacket which once belonged to John Lennon has been bought by a fan for £7,000 at an auction.

The teal blue Nehru jacket, later owned by Jo Jo Johns, a PA for the Beatles, was auctioned in Derbyshire.

Ms Johns had to clear Lennon's house when he moved to the US in 1971 and later gave the jacket to her friend Tony Goddard as a birthday present.

For 25 years, Mr Goddard has had the jacket on display at his Leicestershire home but said it was time to sell it.

"The jacket was given to me at one of my birthday parties in the early 70s," said Mr Goddard.

"Jo Jo was a good friend and she had acquired a lot of abandoned belongings from the band members."

The three-quarter length jacket, with a mandarin collar and slightly flared sleeves, shows some small signs of wear.

'Stunned silence'

"There is no doubt, in my mind, that this jacket was well worn by John in the late 1960s," said Charles Hanson, manager of Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall.

The new owner of the jacket, who did not want to be named, said she was absolutely delighted with her purchase and said she would add it to her extensive Beatles memorabilia collection at her home in Derbyshire.

More than 40 years after breaking up, the Beatles remain one of the world's most famous bands

The jacket, with a statement of provenance, had been given a guide price of between £8,000 and £12,000.

Junior valuer Elizabeth Bailey said when the jacket was brought along to a valuation evening earlier in the year, "the whole room dropped into a stunned silence" when the vendor explained the item's history.

Lennon was born in 1940 in Liverpool. As a founding member of the Beatles, he formed the song-writing partnership with Paul McCartney which propelled the group to superstar status.

In December 1980, Lennon was shot dead outside his Manhattan apartment block.

Mark Chapman, now 58, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison in 1981 after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.