BEATLES MADMAN CAGED
Michael Abram, 34, was found not guilty of attempting to murder the former Beatle and his wife Olivia by reason of insanity. Trial judge Mr Justice Astill said Abram had carried out a "horrifying attack" and ordered he be treated in hospital "without time restriction."
Last night Abram's mother, Lynda, called for an inquiry after claiming he was abondoned by the care services who ignored her repeated warnings. She said: "I did my best to warn everyone but no one listened. This attack need not have happened."
During a two day trial at Oxford Crown Court, Mr Harrison told how he was going to die when Abram launched a frenzied knife attack.
The drug addict broke into 57-year-old Harrison's mansion in December last year and stabbed him ten times. He was only saved by the bravery of his wife, Olivia, 52, who fought back with a brass poker and a lampstand.
He told the jury: "I believed I had been fatally stabbed. I vividly remember the deliberate thrust of the knife towards my chest and the flow of blood towards my mouth."
The Harrisons last night said they would apply to the Home Office for notification if Abram ever seeks release. In a statement they said: "It is tragic that anyone should suffer a mental breakdown and commit such a brutal act."
"We shall never forget that he was full of hate and violence when he came into our home. The existence of the ancient law of the lunatic act provides a loophole."
"The prospect of him being released back into society is abhorent to us. We will now continue to rebuild our lives and hope the growing violence in our society is countered and ultimately overcome by the goodness of most people in the world."
The jury heard that Abram was a paranoid schizophrenic who thought the Beatles were all witches who flew around on broomsticks. He thought he was the fifth Beatle and that God had told him to kill the musician because he was possessed by him.
Psychiatrist Dr Phillip Joseph said that at the time of the attack he was clearly mentally ill. He was consumed with persecution delusions and believed he was possessed by a phantom menace. He thought the Beatles, Oasis and Madonna were all conspiring against him.
Dr Joseph said Abram would sit on a upturned plant pot in his empty flat in Huyton, Merseyside, listening to songs by John Lennon, Bob Marley, U2 and the Beatles, which would feed his delusions.
Last night it emerged that Abram wrote a letter to the Harrisons the week before the trial. Parts of it read: "I wish to say how sorry I am for the alarm, distress and injury that I have caused when I was so ill."
"I have seen many expert doctors prior to 30 December, 1999 and I had never been told that I was suffering with schizophrenia or any mental illness. I thought my delusions were real. I am very glad that I did not do any worse damage."
Despite the obvious horror of the attack, Abram's mother painted a tragic and sad picture of his illness and also begged the Harrisons for forgiveness.
Lynda Abram, 52, of Stockbridge Village, Merseyside, said her son had been treated for mental health problems throughout his twenties, but pleas for him to be sectioned, she says, were ignored.
Living alone on the tenth floor of a tower block in a run-down district of Liverpool, Abram was, to all who knew him, a tormented and seriously disturbed individual.
His mental state had deteriorated further because of his addiction to heroin. But psychiatrists said they could not treat him properly until he stopped his drug habit. Lynda and her unemployed husband Ray, 55, said their son's problems began at 17 when he "got mixed up in drugs". Lynda said: "Michael used to be very bright but he got hooked on heroin until he came off it seven months before the attack."
"I tried doctors, psychiatrists, but it was like walking into a brick wall. They don't want to know. You tell them he was a drug addict and they just switch off."
In the month before he travelled from his grim flat to George Harrison's Oxfordshire mansion, Abram was hearing voices in his head. Days later he was charged with criminal damage to boards advertising the Cavern Club, where the Beatles played, and sent to the psychiatric unit at Whiston Hospital on Merseyside. But he was thrown out after a row with a nurse.
The Chief Executive of St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust said he would not comment before studying the judge's comments. But Ken Sanderson added: "The trust has already reviewed its procedures and made any changes deemed necessary.
"Lessons have already been learned and we are sorry for the distress to all families involved in this incident and offer our due sympathies."