George Harrison's attacker to be freed

The schizophrenic who stabbed former Beatle George Harrison was today preparing to be released after being conditionally discharged from the secure hospital where he has been detained.

Michael Abram repeatedly stabbed the late former Beatle and attacked his wife, Olivia, after breaking into their Henley-on-Thames mansion in December 1999.

He was cleared of attempting to murder Harrison and his wife, Olivia, on the grounds of insanity and ordered to be detained at a secure hospital "without time restriction".

But today, less than two years after Abram's trial at Oxford Crown Court, an independent panel of experts decided he was fit to be released and gave Abram a conditional discharge.

A spokeswoman for Mersey Care NHS Trust, which runs the Scott Clinic in Rainhill where Abram is a patient, said: "Michael Abram ... has been given a conditional discharge today by a Mental Health Review Tribunal (MHRT)."

The MHRT is an independent organisation which hears recommendations about patients then comes to its own conclusions, she added.

"In this case, the tribunal has given a conditional discharge - the conditions, which remain confidential, are to ensure the safety and security of the public."

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