Claims of attempted cover-up ‘not borne out’

Press, 14 May 1987, Page 9

Claims of attempted cover-up ‘not borne out’

PA .Dunedin The police confirmed they were investigating an incident involving a firearm and the Queen in Dunedin on October 29, 1981, two days after they completed a forensic examination.

Claims that the police tried to hush-up stories that Christopher John Lewis, tried to assassinate the Queen were not borne out by events disclosed at the time and by recent inquiries, said the “Otago Daily Times” yesterday. “But nor was the incident highlighted, or information volunteered by the police,” the newspaper said. However, the police did confirm soOn after the incident that a shot was fired but not at the Queen. Inquiries made by the “Otago Daily Times” showed that the police concluded Lewis could not see the Queen from the top-floor toilet in the Medical School’s Adams building, about 183 m from her motorcade. At the time of the Queen’s visit, the Dunedin police were still investigating numerous incidents to which Lewis subsequently pleaded guilty but they had not linked him to

them. "Just before the Royal motorcade arrived at the Museum Reserve, at least two police officers heard a sharp noise coming from some distance away. Reporters covering the tour did not hear the noise, although they were nearby. ‘. "There was a small but very noisy crowd on the reserve, and several concurrent demonstrations, including a particularly noisy one protesting about the conditions of political prisoners in Ireland.” The newspaper said there was a considerable presence of security officers, with the local police augmented by police from other districts, together with members of the Diplomatic Protection Squad and the Queen’s own security officers.

“Tension among the local police was already high because earlier in the afternoon there had been an armed offender incident in Caversham Valley at the opposite end of the city, where a man was found shooting birds with a .22 rifle. He was arrested. “One of the detectives recalled hearing the shot at the Museum Reserve. He had turned to a fellow

officer and queried the noise. It was inconclusive and with no other evidence, they assumed it had come from activity in a motor-cycle repair garage which was then situated next to the Captain Cook Hotel across from the reserve.

“A ramset gun was also being used on a nearby construction Site, and firecrackers were being exploded on the reserve.” It was not until nine days later, on October 23, that the police became aware Lewis had planned to shoot the Queen. A patrolling car had. located Lewis and an associate and after questioning they were linked to an armed robbery of the Anderson’s Bay Post Office.

“When the police searched Lewis’s flat a diary was found. In it were references to the Queen’s visit. Further investigation disclosed Lewis’s activities and plans on the day of the Queen’s visit.” An inquiry team was formed and a forensic investigation into the. incident took place, during which the police tried to establish whether Lewis had actually fired at the Queen’s motorcade. “They concluded four

days later, on October 27, that Lewis could not possibly have hit the Queen from the locality. "Lewis told them he had discharged the rifle into the road below the Adams building ’in frustration.’ Despite a search, the bullet was not found.” Police also found that Lewis had planned, and abandoned, an earlier attempt to shoot the Queen when she was walking in the Octagon, the newspaper said. “Lewis had thought the Queen would stand on the balcony of the Town Hall but it was never intended that she should do this.

“He gave up the attempt when he found he had no escape route, got on his bicycle and rode to the Adams building.” Lewis was-accused only of unlawfully discharging a firearm and not of attempting to assassinate the Queen. This relatively minor charge was considered . alongside milch more serious charges, such as armed robbery and arson.

Because of this context, the defendant’s being aged 17, and the fact that a shot was not fired at the Queen, the incident was not highlighted by any of the news media.