Harrison Attacker Ruled Insane
November 15 -- Just one day after entering his plea, the man accused of trying to kill ex-Beatle George Harrison and his wife was found innocent by reason of insanity and ordered held indefinitely in a mental hospital.
The court had earlier heard that 34-year-old Michael Abram, who had denied trying to kill Harrison, 57, and his wife Olivia, 52, at their country mansion in December, thought the guitarist was an "alien from hell."
Abram was sentenced to stay in a secure psychiatric hospital "without time restriction."
The court in Oxford, central England, was told that Abram, who liked to listen to rock music while sitting on an upturned flowerpot, was a paranoid schizophrenic. Among his favorite artists are Bob Marley, U2, The Beatles, and John Lennon.
Psychiatrist Phillip Joseph said Abram's mental health worsened after last year's total eclipse of the sun. He then convinced himself that he was on a mission from God. "He thought George Harrison was the alien from hell," Joseph said. "He thought The Beatles were witches flying on broomsticks from hell."
Abram, a former drug addict from The Beatles' hometown of Liverpool, decided to confront Harrison at the musician's estate, Friar Park, at Henley-on-Thames, west of London.
The court heard how Abram walked into a local church and, according to prosecution lawyer Simon Mayo, asked, "Can you tell me where the squire lives?" The vicar, David Buskill, at first thought Abram was seeking God, but then realized he was looking for Harrison.
Abram stabbed Harrison in the chest in a frenzied attack at his 120-room Gothic mansion, leaving the reclusive musician literally within an inch of his life. The seven-inch knife Abram wielded missed Harrison's heart by just one inch, leaving him with a collapsed lung — and sent a chilling echo of the murder of Beatle John Lennon by a deranged fan in New York in 1980.
Harrison tried to disorientate Abram during the pre-dawn attack by repeatedly shouting "Hare Krishna" as his assailant lunged toward him.
