By James Bone in New York

YOKO Ono’s driver tried to blackmail the widow of John Lennon by claiming he had Oko and Lennon’s son on tape calling the late Beatle “a wife-beating a—hole”.
The alleged $US2 million ($2.5 million) extortion plot by Koral Karsan emerged when his supposed blackmail note was made public in court documents.
His lawyer said the document, which he filed in New York in support of a bail application, showed Mr Karsan was pursuing a legitimate sexual harassment claim against Ono, 73.
In the letter, Mr Karsan, 50, described himself as Ono’s “lover and confidant” in a decade-long relationship that had “deepened into a very emotional and physical one”. He threatened to sue for sexual harassment, calling people including her son Sean to testify.
Mr Karsan told Ono he had tapes “that will quite frankly astound the world”.
He wrote: “If you want all of these pictures, recordings, emails, conversations and memories to vanish from the face of the earth … send me a certified cashier’s cheque from a New York bank for a total amount of $2 million.”
The alleged material included a recording of Sean telling his girlfriend that John Lennon was “a wife-beating a—hole”.
A spokesman for Ono denied there was a sexual liaison between her and Mr Karsan.
Mr Karsan faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
The Times, London, in The Australian