McCartney intruder detained yards from home

Apr 2 2007 by Caroline Innes, Liverpool Daily Post

A MAN has been arrested by police and detained under the Mental Health Act after trying to force his way into Paul McCartney’s mansion, screaming: “I must get to him.”

It has been reported that the middle-aged man, driving at frightening speeds, burst through security patrols into McCartney’s isolated Sussex estate on Friday.

Guards who feared an assassination attempt were scrambled to intercept him as he sped towards the front door.

They managed to block his path by activating an emergency security gate, but the intruder simply drove across fields and gardens until he was finally halted by trees and a fence just yards from Sir Paul’s six-bedroom home at Peasmarsh.

Staff at the 160-acre estate dialled 999, but the man fled in a blue car as teams of police arrived. He gave himself up after a three-mile country-lane chase to the neighbouring village of Northiam and was arrested.

The former Beatle’s security has been super-tight since band mate John Lennon was gunned down and killed by crazed fan Mark Chapman outside his home in New York in 1980.

It was toughened again seven years ago when the late George Harrison was stabbed in the chest by a fan but survived the attack.

After the police chase and arrest, the intruder was sectioned and detained in a local psychiatric hospital.

Aides had expected McCartney back home at around the time of the attack.