BEATLE SAVED BY WIFE IN KNIFE TERROR
Michael Abram, 34, launched his attack after breaking into the couple's mansion in the early hours. George's wife Olivia, 52, covered in blood, smashed a poker and a lamp over Abram's head, saving her husband's life. A court heard that George "truly believed" he was going to die. It was revealed that at one point he had chanted "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna" at Abram in a bid to distract him.
Olivia told the court that Abram was "frenzied" with wild staring eyes. The accused, who claimed to be on a "mission from God", has pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted murder on the grounds of insanity.
Mexican born Olivia, dressed in a dark suit, told the jury at Oxford Crown Court that the couple had gone to bed after watching a film on TV.
She was woken by the sound of breaking glass and alerted her husband. They went to the landing outside their bedroom to check. She described the "terrifying" moments as they heard someone walking on broken glass downstairs.
Fighting back tears, she told how she watched Abram race up the stairs and stab her husband.
Olivia searched for a weapon, grabbing a brass poker from a room. When she returned she found her husband and the intruder grappling by a statue on the landing.
"I've never seen my husband look like that," she said. "I raised my hand and hit the man on the back of the head as many times as I could, as hard as I could. My husband said, 'Get him, get him'."
Olivia was then knocked backwards by Abram and found herself lying at his feet.
"I reached up and tried to grab his testicles," she said. "I just got a lot of fabric in the trousers he was wearing."
Her husband then jumped on the intruder's back and they all fell in a pile on the floor, with Abram on top of George.
"At that point I didn't have any (weapon) in my hands," said Olivia. "There was blood on the walls, blood on my hands and I realised that we were going to be murdered and this man was succeeding in murdering us and there was absolutely nobody else there to help."
Olivia, who had already dialled 999, hit Abram with a lamp. He in turn wrapped the flex around his right hand and she feared he would strangle her.
But George distracted him and again fought with him until police, alerted by the 999 call, arrived at the mansion in Henley-on-Thames.
George said in a statement to the court that he had vivid memories of Abram plunging a knife into his chest. "I truly believed I was dying," he said.
Abram, from the Beatle's home city of Liverpool, had staked out the musician's home two weeks before the attack on 30 December last year.
Abram believed he was possessed by George and was on a missioin from God. He had travelled from Merseyside with a knife with a six inch blade and a pole he had taken after smashing a stone statue of George and the Dragon in the mansion's conservatory.
George, 57, later told police: "I have no doubt he intended to kill me and my wife Olivia."
Olivia had been woken by the sound of breaking glass. She roused her husband who went downstairs to investigate. George, realising an intruder was in the house, retreated upstairs to the galleried landing.
Together, he and his wife saw Abram enter the hall downstairs and scream abuse at them. When Abram climbed the stairs, George decided to face him. He decided "on the spur of the moment" to confront Abram to protect his wife and her mother, who was also in the house.
George, famous for his interest in eastern religions, tried to "confuse and distract him" by chanting "Hare Krisna, Hare Krishna".
The two men grappled on the first floor landing outside the bedroom. George said he felt the knife plunging in and out of his body and Abram punching and kicking him.
Olivia ran to her husband's aid and started hitting Abram with a brass poker. George said he saw Abram chase after the fleeing Olivia and somehow summoned the strength to tackle him again.
He said: "I feared greatly for her safety and followed them. I tackled him again to grab the knife. I placed my hands around the blade."
"I felt exhausted and could feel the strength drain from me. My arms dropped to my side and I vividly remember the deliberate thrust of the knife into my chest."
"I felt my chest deflate, blood enter my mouth and air exhale through the wound. I believed I had been fatally stabbed."
Olivia struck Abram again with a lamp but to her horror he was still attacking her with the knife, the court heard. George continued: "He got up in quite a surprising surge of energy and went towards my wife."
"I watched as he lashed out with part of the lamp that was left at her head. Then he turned towards me as I was still lying on my back and rained down blows to my head as my wife ran from the room."
"Then he stopped and chased after her. I was still lying on my back and I turned to my right and as I did so I saw him struggle and partially collapse. Then I heard other voices and people coming up the stairs and I was aware of a uniformed policeman who handcuffed him and arrested him." George - one stab wound passed within half an inch of his heart - and his wife were taken to hospital. Olivia was discharged after having stitches, but he suffered a collapsed lung.
The jury of six men and six women listened spellbound as prosecutor Simon Mayo read out George's statement. The bespectacled defendant, who has short blond hair and was wearing a dark suit and tie, had earlier pleaded not guilty to the two charges of attempted murder on the grounds of insanity.
In his statement George said that he had spent the evening with relatives and had returned shortly before midnight to his home, Friar Park, which is set in 37 acres of land and includes lodges for his son Dhani and members of his staff. He went to bed after 2am but was woken by his wife saying: "Somebody is in here, I heard a window smash."
George said he saw the intruder "shouting and screaming, hysterical and frightened". He said Abram shouted at him: "You get down here, you know what it is," and moments later rushed at him.
"I took the split second decision to tackle this man," he said. "I had in my mind that once he was past me both my wife and my mother-in-law would be vulnerable. I ran at him - my first thought was to grab the knife - and I kicked him slightly off balance but he thrust the knife towards my body and I was pushed off balance."
"He was on top of me and stabbing down towards my upper body."
"Then I was aware of my wife striking him with a small brass poker but it appeared to have little effect until he turned his anger towards her."
George caught up again with Abram, who then delivered the near fatal blow. Police, aided by staff living in the lodges, finally arrived and Abram, himself injured, was arrested. He told a police officer: "You should have heard the spooky things he was saying as he was going. The bastard." And he is said to have told another officer in front of a medic: "I should have got the bastard better."
Mr Mayo said psychiatric experts had concluded Abram was suffering from a delusion that he had been possessed by George Harrison.
"He thought he had been sent on a mission by God to kill George Harrison," he said. "The experts concluded that undoubtedly Abram intended to kill Mr Harrison, but he didn't realise that to do so was wrong because his deluded belief about being possessed by Mr Harrison."
George was not in court with his wife, but their son Dhani, 22, attended. The case continues.