‘No cover-up’ over would-be assassin, police probe finds

Press, 13 May 1987, Page 8

‘No cover-up’ over would-be assassin, police probe finds

PA Wellington The police have found no evidence of a cover-up of facts surrounding a planned assassination attempt on the Queen by Christopher John Lewis, said Assistant Commissioner Stuart McEwen yesterday. Mr McEwen said he had studied the file on the Dunedin incident during the Royal tour of 1981 and he was satisfied that all that should have been done at the time was

done. “There is certainly no evidence of a cover-up,” he said. Mr McEwen, who is head of crime and operations at police headquarters, said there was no dispute over the fact that Lewis planned to shoot at the Queen. “However, he was not able to do so and those facts were made known to the High Court in Dunedin on December 5, 1981, and to reporters. . “The ‘Otago Daily

Times’ carried the story on December 11, 1981, which occupied a quarter of a page,” he said.

A former detective sergeant in Dunedin, Tom Lewis, said the shooting had been “played right down because it was a political thing.” Mr Lewis, now an insurance broker in Perth, is not related to the fugitive Lewis who until yesterday was being hunted in the Buller Gorge area. He is wanted for questioning about a bank robbery.