THE wife of John Lennon's killer Mark Chapman has revealed he told her of his plans two months before the murder.

Gloria Hiroko Chapman says her husband, 63, didn't go through with his threats to kill the legendary Beatle the first time because of his love for her.

But Chapman, who is preparing to make his 10th parole bid after 38 years in jail, returned to New York and shot Lennon on his doorstep on December 8, 1980.

The 67-year-old, who lives in Kailua, Hawaii, says when reports of the star's death flashed across the screen while watching Little House on the Prairie, she knew instantly her husband was responsible.

Despite his heinous crime - and assuring her he had thrown his gun into the sea, Gloria has stayed devoted to her husband.

She even revealed they've had sex in prison and spend most of 44 hours they get together each year eating pizzas and watching Wheel of Fortune on TV.

Recalling "one of the darkest nights of my life", Gloria told the Mirror: “I knew it was Mark. How did I know? Two months earlier, Mark had travelled to New York.

“He came home scared, telling me that to make a name for himself he had planned to kill Lennon. But he said my love had saved him.”

Gloria says she had only agreed to Chapman making another 5,000-mile trip to New York because he had told her he "needed time to think about his life" and it would help their marriage.

But she confesses he had lied and her "life changed dramatically that night."

Gloria said: “I was now Mrs Mark David Chapman, the wife of a murderer and not just any murderer but one whose victim was known and loved by millions around the world.”

Following his arrest, Gloria's friends - and the killer himself - told her to divorce him.

And despite being violently abusive to her in the first year of their marriage, the deeply religious Gloria cited their vows and made the decision to stick by him.

Even then, he cut her off for a year and refused to let her see him in prison for almost four.

She's now been waiting for 38 years as he applies for parole for the 10th time this month.

The couple met in Hawaii in early 1978 when Gloria was 26 and Chapman 22.

He had bought himself a one-way ticket to the isolated US state a year earlier before trying to gas himself inside his car, but the attempt failed when the hose he used melted.

Chapman was admitted to Castle Medical Center in Kailua where psychiatrists said he made a rapid recovery and he was offered a job there as a maintenance worker.

He met Gloria at the travel agency where she worked and the pair began dating after she organised a vacation for him and they married on June 2, 1979.

She believed his mental illness was behind him but he soon lost his job at the hospital after a run-in with a nursing supervisor.

Gloria says he started coming home drunk and getting angry with her more easily and on a couple of occasions hurt her physically - but she has stuck to her vows.

She's been making conjugal visits for the last 25 years - where they spend time holed up in a caravan at maximum security prison Wende Correctional Facility, in Alden, New York.

He was sentenced to 20 years to life but has applied for parole on nine other occasions, every two years - all of which have been denied.

During Chapman’s last parole hearing in 2016, the board opposed his release because of the “premeditated and celebrity-seeking nature of the crime”.

He is believed to be mentally ill, and the court took into account his efforts to rehabilitate while in jail, during which he admitted that his crime was “premeditated, selfish and evil”.

Each time Chapman has applied for parole, the late John Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono has written to the parole board to tell them to keep him in jail.

She has said that Chapman’s release would endanger her and the couple’s two sons.

Chapman will face a New York parole board hearing the week beginning August 20.