Walter Finch
FRESH life has been breathed into a cold case involving some of the most iconic photographs in rock and roll history.
A mysterious letter arrived at the Olive Press from an individual claiming to have made scans of some of the most sought-after negatives of the Beatles frontman and his new bride.
As proof, the anonymous writer included a paper print of one of the negatives – showing John and Yoko kissing tenderly – that we can reveal here for the first time.
The remarkable set of pictures of John Lennon and Yoko Ono – including their iconic Gibraltar wedding snaps – have been missing for decades.
While the Olive Press launched a special investigation in 2016 to help recover them for photographer David Nutter, the trail has since gone cold.
Over the course of a year we managed to establish that the stolen negatives were being offered by a shady Far Eastern cartel that claimed to own them.
However, despite receiving a copy of a contact sheet we were unable to finally secure the negatives or pin down the seller.
Now, out of the blue, we have received a mystery letter from an apparent Good Samaritan in the USA who claims she had the missing negatives in her hands in 2011.
Offered to her company by a third party, they were digitally scanned but not purchased over concerns of copyright.
Having recently read our reports from 2016 she has decided she wants to return to the photographer himself and has reached out to the Olive Press to help.
“I feel real sympathy for Mr Nutter’s plight and I want to get the scans to him,” she wrote, adding she would actually like to deliver them herself.
Taken in Gibraltar in 1969 by Nutter, the incredible photos captured the infamous, whistlestop wedding of Lennon and Yoko.
The valuable negatives – estimated to be worth at least €150,000 – vanished in the 1970s after Nutter, now 84, lent them to a friend Anthony Fawcett to use in his book, John Lennon: One Day At A Time.
They were allegedly stolen during the repossession of Fawcett’s apartment ‘he claimed’.
Despite two separate investigations by British police and the FBI they have never been recovered.
If you can help (or are the anonymous letter writer) pls contact [email protected] in strict confidence.
READ MORE:
- EXCLUSIVE PART ONE: Original Olive Press investigation into missing John Lennon wedding negatives
- EXCLUSIVE PART TWO: Olive Press investigation uncovers mystery seller of stolen John Lennon photos
