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File picture dated 14 July 1971 of former Beatle John Lennon. A renegade British spy has claimed the slain Beatle helped fund the paramilitary Irish Republican Army (IRA), The Observer newspaper reports in its Sunday 20 February 2000 edition. The revelation comes after a US judge in Los Angeles ordered the FBI to release notes from a phone conversation and two letters about John Lennon, in a decision which could prompt the release of other secret documents on the former Beatle. (KEYSTONE/EPA PHOTO PA/-/PP-cl)