A SCHIZOPHRENIC who stabbed the late Beatle George Harrison wasyesterday pre-paring to be released after being conditionallydischarged from the secure hospital where he has been detained.
Michael Abram repeatedly knifed Harrison, who died of cancer lastNovember, and attacked his wife, Olivia, after breaking into theirHenley-on-Thames mansion in December 1999. He was cleared ofattempting to murder the couple on the grounds of insanity and wasdetained at a secure hospital 'without time restriction'.
During the trial, the court was told that Abram thought he wasthe victim of a conspiracy by celebrities, including members ofOasis, the Beatles and Madonna. Armed with electrical flex, a pole,a lamp and a knife, he stabbed the guitarist at least 10 times.
Less than two years after Abram's trial at Oxford Crown Court, anindependent panel of experts decided yesterday that he was fit to bereleased and gave him a conditional discharge. A spokeswoman forMersey Care NHS Trust, which runs the Scott Clinic in Rainhill,Merseyside, where Abram is a patient, said: 'Michael Abram ... hasbeen given a conditional discharge today by a Mental Health ReviewTribunal (MHRT).' She said the MHRT was independent but said thereasons for its findings were confidential.
The decision to release Abram comes days after it emerged thatanother schizo-phrenic man, Eden Strang, who attacked members of achurch congregation with a samurai sword, had been released from asecure unit.
Strang, 29, stripped naked and attacked elderly victims with the3ft sword at a church in Thornton Heath, south London. Following atrial at the Old Bailey in November 1999 he was locked up'indefinitely' under the Mental Health Act.
A jury found him not guilty through insanity of seven counts ofattempted murder.
After 22 months in a secure mental health unit, Strang wasreleased earlier this week to a hostel in south London. A publicprotection panel, made up of medical experts and police, deemedStrang to be a low risk to the public and himself as long as he tookhis medication.
