Harrison's fight against intruders

George Harrison bought his mansion 29 years ago

All three former Beatles have taken elaborate security precautions since the death of John Lennon at the hands of a crazed fan.

Lennon was murdered outside his apartment in the Dakota building in New York City on December 8, 1980 by Mark Chapman, who is still in jail.

After Lennon's death, George Harrison was reported to have spent more than £1m protecting his Oxfordshire mansion from intruders.

The death of John brought out a lot of crazies

George Harrison

Harrison's 120-room Friar Park mansion, which he bought and restored nearly 29 years ago, has a high perimeter wall covered with razor wire.

Security cameras scan the grounds 24 hours a day, while a sign on the 12ft high electrically operated entrance gates warns dogs are on patrol inside.

An alarm system links directly to the local police station.

But locals in Henley-on-Thames said the walls and fences surrounding the home were sometimes left in a state of disrepair.

Over the years Harrison had received several threats to his life and family.

In 1992 the FBI disclosed that a fan had been threatening to burn his house to the ground.

George Harrison was within an inch of his life after the attacj

Harrison once said: "The death of John brought out a lot of crazies. But you have to take care in case there is the odd one - like Chapman - who will act upon his madness."

It was the early hours of 30 December last year, when all the lavish security measures failed and Mr Abram, a former heroin addict with a history of mental health problems, got into the house

He had travelled south from his home in Huyton, Merseyside.

When he smashed a window at 0300GMT he awoke Harrison and his wife Olivia, who were asleep in an upstairs bedroom.

He (Harrison) was extremely lucky

Medical director, Royal Berkshire

Harrison telephoned a member of staff in the grounds and told them to call 999 as he thought there was a burglar in the house.

As he walked downstairs, Harrison was confronted by Mr Abram and slashed three times across the chest, and stabbed.

The stab wound, according to surgeons, came within half-an-inch of ending his life.

He was stabbed in the right side of the chest, the blade entering just below the collar bone, and narrowly missing a main blood vessel connecting the heart and the head.

Andrew Pengelli, medical director of the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, Berkshire, said at the time: "If that had ruptured he would have perished within a matter of minutes from internal bleeding. He was extremely lucky."

The 10-minute struggle ended when 52-year-old Olivia Harrison struck Abram over the head with a table lamp, almost knocking him cold.

He certainly wasn't auditioning for the Travelling Wilburys

George Harrison

Police arrested the injured Abram without a struggle as he was slumped on the landing.

Officers said that without Mrs Harrison's intervention the situation could have been "much worse" and that "she is the real hero".

After treatment at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Harrison was transferred to the specialist chest unit at Harefield Hospital, west London.

He joked to staff that the intruder "certainly wasn't auditioning for the Travelling Wilburys" - the band he formed with Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison in the 80s.

It was reported that after Harrison left hospital and returned to Friar Park, he hired former SAS soldiers to tighten security.