A TEARFUL Yoko Ono defended the inclusion of a paper bag containing murdered husband John Lennon’s bloody clothes in a new exhibition in New York.

Ono received the items from the medical examiner in December, 1980, when the 40-year-old former Beatle was gunned down outside the Dakota apartment building by crazed fan Mark Chapman.

“It was hard to include,” Ono said.

“And I thought it might be criticised as well.

“It just broke me down.

“Because it was the coroner's office, and I just got this brown paper bag on my lap.”

But, ultimately, Ono said she thought it was important to let people see the effects of gun violence.

Yoko Ono was speaking at the opening of a new exhibition called John Lennon: The New York Years, which commemorates Lennon's time in the Big Apple.

It was put together by Ono and Jim Henke, the Vice President of Exhibitions for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Lennon's sleeveless New York City T-shirt – worn in a famous photograph of the former Beatle – his upright piano from his Dakota apartment, and a posthumous 1981 Grammy Award for the Double Fantasy album, are all on display.