John & Cynthia's divorce papers

Was about to post this when Cynthia died. So I held off. Still, it's a bit of Beatles history anyway, isn't it.

Never-before-seen papers from John Lennon's bitter 1968 divorce give inside account of Beatle's drug abuse, affair with Yoko Ono and aggressive behaviour towards his young son Julian

By Stephanie Linning for MailOnline Published: 11:44 GMT, 13 February 2015 | Updated: 14:02 GMT, 13 February 2015



Five-page document was drafted by Cynthia Lennon's divorce lawyers
Centres on claims made by Lennon's longtime housekeeper Dorothy Jarlett
She revealed what she saw while working at Lennon family home in Surrey
Details visits by Yoko Ono, mood swings and increased drug taking
Papers expected to fetch £5,000 when they go up for auction next month
Suggestion Lennon family might buy it to stop it being widely published

A never-before-seen dossier detailing the bitter breakdown of John Lennon's marriage to his first wife Cynthia has been uncovered after nearly 50 years. The five-page document, drafted by the solicitors dealing with the Beatle's divorce in 1968, reveals details of his increasing drug use and his affair with Yoko Ono. It centres on claims made by Dorothy Jarlett, Lennon's housekeeper of four years, on what she saw while working at the Lennon family home Kenwood in Weybridge, Surrey. The papers, which will go up for auction next month, also details his mood swings, aggressive behaviour towards his young son Julian and heated arguments between him and Cynthia.

Mrs Jarlett describes how Yoko Ono would visit the country pile while Cynthia was out of the country, and how she once found the pair in bed together. She reveals how Lennon became nonchalant towards his wife around 1967 - five years after they tied the knot - when the Beatles were at the height of their fame. She said Lennon was uninterested in playing the father figure role and that he would smack Julian if he misbehaved.

The statement was made to Herbert Oppenheimer, Nathan and Vandyk - a firm of solicitors in London employed by Cynthia following the breakdown of the marriage. They then sent a draft version back to Mrs Jarlett, who made amendments and crossed some sections out - marking the retracted statements with a blue pen. The document has never been seen before because Lennon and Cynthia settled out of court, with Lennon agreeing to pay her £100,000 and give her custody of Julian.

It was found among Mrs Jarlett's possessions following her death last year. The documents are set to fetch £5,000 when they go under the hammer at Omega Auctions in Warrington, Cheshire on March 24. It has been suggested the Lennon family may buy the document to stop it being widely published.

Mrs Jarlett, who worked for the Lennons for four years, wrote: 'I was first employed by Mr and Mrs Lennon in August 1964 as nanny/housekeeper.
'My duties were generally looking after the house and taking care of Julian when Mr and Mrs Lennon were away.

'My work did not involve sleeping in the house except for periods of time when Mr Lennon and Mrs Lennon were away and then only to look after Julian and the house.

'Until about the summer 1967 I thought the house was reasonably happy. I do remember some differences of opinion between Mr and Mrs Lennon but nothing out of the ordinary.

'Mr Lennon was frequently away on tour, filming and recording and I did not see very much of him.

'I do not think that Mr Lennon showed the usual interest the father showed in the household. He was certainly not bad with Julian, but he appeared to be preoccupied with other matters.

'From about a year ago Mr Lennon did not seem as keen as before to take Mrs Lennon out with him to various functions, studio recordings etc., to which he had previously taken Mrs Lennon.

'I quite often heard Mrs Lennon ask whether she could accompany him, but he had refused, making excuses for not taking her. He would only take her, if they had been invited out together.

'The atmosphere seemed to change and there seemed more tension. As a result Mrs Lennon was often depressed and unhappy.'

In a section of text she later crossed out in blue pen, Mrs Jarlett recalls how she discovered Lennon's drug taking habit after he left packets of cannabis lying round the house.

She wrote: 'This was some months after the time Mr Lennon started taking drugs, I knew of this, because I began noticing drugs lying around in various parts of the house.

'It was quite clear to me that Mr Lennon was smoking pot, and we all hoped that it was a phase and that he would get over it.

'I have seen pot around the house since then.'

Describing what she had seen of Yoko Ono, Mrs Jarlett wrote: 'Before Mrs Lennon went to Greece, I had seen Yoko Ono at the house twice.

'I had brought tea and coffee into the room and John and Yoko had always been chatting together.

'I had no reason to suspect any illicit associations. It appeared to me that she was rather more a friend of John; she always spoke to John and I never saw her talking to Mrs Lennon.

'On one occasion, I know that she stayed at the house overnight, but Mrs Lennon was there and I made breakfast for the three of them the next morning.'

On a later page she told of how she found Lennon and Yoko in bed together.

Mrs Jarlett also described Lennon's tough approach to parenting, and that it was the source of arguments between him and his wife.

Continued....