Judge Michael Astill ruled that Michael Abram should be confined to a mental hospitalindefinitely.

Abram, 34, had been charged with two counts of attempted murder in connection with a December 30,1999, attack at Harrison’s home in Henley-on-Thames, west of London.

Harrison’s lung was punctured in the attack. Abram also was charged with attacking Harrison’swife, Olivia, when she came to her husband’s defense.

During the second day of the trial in Oxford Crown Court, Astill instructed jurors to find thedefendant innocent by reason of insanity. Under English law, they were bound by his order.

Shortly after, Astill denied the Harrisons’ request to be informed if Abram is ever underconsideration for release, saying that would be a matter only for medical experts.

Earlier Wednesday, three psychiatrists had testified that Abram has suffered from severeparanoid schizophrenia since 1990.

Abram thought all four members of The Beatles were practitioners of black magic, Dr. NigelEastman told jurors.

“He is not somebody who wanted to kill, but he was driven to it,” Eastman said.

Jurors also heard that Abram believed he was Archangel Michael and had been sent by God on amission to kill Harrison, whom Abram described as the “phantom menace,” a figure from thewritings of Nostradamus.

Initially, Abram believed Paul McCartney was the phantom menace but, after listening to some

McCartney songs, decided it was Harrison, said Dr. Philip Joseph, another psychiatrist.

Abram “believed Paul McCartney was in his head, tormenting him. He realized that it wasGeorge Harrison behind this, telling Paul McCartney what to do,” Joseph said.

“He said that he remembered that John Lennon said The Beatles were more famous than Jesus,”the psychiatrist added. “That upset him. He thought The Beatles had gone too far.”

Prosecutors said Abram went on a reconnaissance mission to Harrison’s village and later returnedwith a knife and broke into the house.

Harrison, 57, had described the frenzied attack in a written statement read to jurors Tuesday. Hesaid he tried to disorient Abram by chanting “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna!”

Joseph testified that Abram had told him he would have stopped the attack “if George Harrisonhad talked normally to him,” but that the defendant said the former Beatle had cursed him in adevil’s tongue and spoken backward to him.

Abram, wearing glasses and a pinstriped suit, had watched intently as the psychiatrists gaveevidence. All three doctors said he had responded well to anti-psychotic drugs, but would be arisk to society if released immediately from a psychiatric hospital.

Olivia Harrison and the couple’s adult son, Dhani, were in court on the day of the verdict.