The man suspected of trying to kill George Harrison is a mental patient known as Mad Mick who believed the Beatles witches.
Harrison, 56, was stabbed in the chest in a frenzied knife attack after a man broke into the luxury mansion where the star and his wife were sleeping.
Police have charged Michael Abram, 33, of Liverpool, with attempted murder.
Friends and family of Abram have painted a sad picture of a former heroin junkie who was obsessed with the Beatles and heard voices.
Distraught parents Lynda and Ray Abram said they pleaded with welfare authorities to help their son.
"I can't believe it. He hears voices in his head and sees things coming out of the walls. But he's never been violent," Mrs Abram said.
She said he developed a weird hatred of the Beatles and had been seen in local pubs shouting about them.
"He hates them, thinks they are witches and takes their lyrics seriously," she said.
"Whatever the song said, he'd take it literally and not realise it was just a group trying to make a few bob."
Mrs Abram, 52, said Mick used to play loud music and wear a walkman to drown out the voices in his head.
He is believed to be suffering paranoid psychosis and has been living in a dingy tower block with hardly a scrap of furniture.
Neighbours said he had threatened to throw himself from the 10th floor flat and had been found wandering around the area naked.
The mother of Abram's two children, Jeanette Jennings, broke down when she heard of the attack.
Ms Jennings said she last saw Abram on Christmas eve.
"He told me, 'I am going to be famous one day soon, Jeanette, just you wait and see'."
Ms Jennings said he was obviously mentally unwell. "He identified with George Harrison because of the song "My Sweet Lord"", she said.
"He had the song on a tape of Beatles tracks which he played over and over again."
""My Sweet Lord" was very important to him."
Abram's parents said care services had failed to help him and their son had been taking methadone to cure his drug addiction.
He was discharged from hospital recently after an alleged assault on a nurse.
One neighbour said: "It is no real surprise it's him whose been arrested. He's known as Mad Mick to all the kids around here."
Doctors said Harrison, 56, was recovering and in good spirits.
The guitarist was saved by his wife, Olivia, who hit the intruder over the head with a lamp, knocking him unconscious.