The Night George Harrison Was Stabbed: A Harrowing Echo of John Lennon’s Fate
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A chilling sense of déjà vu gripped music fans on December 30, 1999, as news broke that George Harrison, former Beatle, had been brutally stabbed in his home. Unlike the fatal shooting of John Lennon in 1980, Harrison survived the attack, but those close to him believed the trauma considerably contributed to his death from lung cancer less than two years later. The incident underscored a tragic pattern: a mentally unwell individual slipping through the cracks and inflicting unimaginable harm on a beloved icon.
A History of Mental Health Struggles
Approximately a month before the attack, the assailant, 33-year-old Michael Abram, was a patient in a psychiatric ward in Merseyside, England. According to reports from the BBC and The Guardian, Abram had battled addiction and undiagnosed schizophrenia for a decade, and had been admitted to a hospital in November 1999 by police. Abram’s mother, Lydia, publicly criticized the healthcare system, stating it had “failed her son and was ‘totally and completely useless.'”
Following his release, Abram returned to his sparsely furnished flat in Liverpool, where neighbors observed him collecting methadone weekly while singing Beatles songs. Though, beneath the surface, abram was descending further into delusion. Court hearing
On the night of the attack, Abram, wearing jackets and boots pulled over them, went to investigate.
Olivia instantly contacted staff and the police as Harrison confronted Abram in the main hall. Abram began shouting at Harrison, who, in a desperate attempt to de-escalate the situation, responded with chants of “hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.” As Abram advanced upstairs,Harrison lunged at him,attempting to disarm the attacker. “We fell to the floor,” Harrison recounted to the court. “I was fending off blows with my hands. He was on top of me and stabbing down at my upper body.”
Olivia Harrison bravely intervened, striking Abram with a brass poker, but was then attacked herself. “There was blood on the walls and on the carpet,” she testified. “There was a moment when I realised we were going to be murdered.I realised that this man was succeeding.” she ultimately subdued Abram with a heavy table lamp just as police arrived and took him into custody. A responding officer later remarked, “You should have heard the spooky things he was saying, the bastard.”
Harrison sustained 40 stab wounds, including five to the chest, and a punctured lung. Olivia suffered head cuts and bruises. despite the severity of his injuries, Harrison maintained his characteristic wit, reportedly telling police that Abram “wasn’t a burglar and he certainly wasn’t auditioning for the Traveling Wilburys.”
Aftermath and Lingering Questions
In November 2000, a jury found Abram not guilty by reason of insanity, ordering his indefinite confinement in a mental hospital. Through treatment and medication, Abram’s mother reported he had returned to a healthier state, and she called for a thorough examination into the failures that allowed her son to fall through the cracks. Abram himself offered a written apology to the court, stating he was “very sorry that this happened but I do not believe that it was all my fault as I was very ill at the time.”
Tragically, Harrison died less than a year after the verdict, succumbing to lung cancer. He had previously battled and overcome the disease in 1998, but it returned aggressively. Harrison’s son, Dhani, later stated in an interview that the stabbing “definitely took years off of his life.” “If you’re trying to fight cancer and then you’re trying to stay alive from somthing like that, it’s gotta take it out of you,” he explained.
Abram was released from the secure Scott Clinic in Rainhill, Merseyside, in July 2002, following a mental health review. He was then placed in a supported living arrangement with ongoing psychiatric and social work support. Reports in 2005 indicated he was volunteering with the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, offering financial guidance to those in need. His current whereabouts and life remain unknown.
