Terence Murray Lewis (29 February 1928 – 5 May 2023) was an Australian police officer who, as

Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is the principal law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto ...

, was convicted and jailed for corruption and

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...

as a result of the

Fitzgerald Inquiry The Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct (the Fitzgerald Inquiry; 1987–1989) into Queensland Police corruption was a judicial inquiry presided over by Tony Fitzgerald QC. The inquiry resulted ...

. He was stripped of his knighthood and two other awards in consequence. Lewis continued to protest his innocence and sued his former lawyers and pursued appeals.The Law Report: 12 October 2004 – "Justice Queensland Style; Majority Jury Verdicts"
/ref> The last of his appeals failed in August 2005..

Policing career

Early career

Lewis was inducted as a police officer in 1949. As a senior constable, Lewis was in charge of the Juvenile Aid Bureau. He was implicated in the National Hotel scandal. Lewis was also a close associate of the corrupt former Police Commissioner Frank Bischof and was allegedly one of his bagmen. Informant Shirley Brifman said: "the collect boys were Lewis, Murphy and Hallahan. That went to Bischof."

Exile

In late 1975 then-Inspector Lewis was transferred to Charleville, at the same time Tony Murphy was posted to

Longreach Longreach is a rural town and locality in the Longreach Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Longreach Regional Council, which was established in 2008 as a merger of the former Longreach, Ilfracombe, and I ...

. However, as

Queensland Premier The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is appointed ...

Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005) was an Australian politician and farmer who served as premier of Queensland between 1968 and 1987, for almost 20 years, as state leader of the National Party (earlier known as the C ...

was unhappy with Commissioner Whitrod, he made two trips to Charleville in March and May 1976 to talk with Lewis, who had been mentioned to him as a possible future commissioner. Two opportunities came to overthrow Commissioner Whitrod: the Premier shifting Police Minister

Max Hodges Allen Maxwell Hodges (11 February 191731 July 2009) was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. Early life Hodges was born in Brisbane, Queensland, the son of Arthur John Hodges and his wife Helen Allen (née Mitchell). His great gra ...

into another portfolio, who was replaced by

Tom Newbery Thomas Guy Newbery (23 March, 1914 – 30 October, 1984) was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. Biography Newbery was born at Mackay, Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of ...

and the retirement on 15 September of Assistant Commissioner Norm Gulbransen. On 15 November 1976, the State Cabinet had rejected Whitrod's proposed candidates to replace Assistant Commissioner Gulbransen and instead selected Lewis, who had beaten 122 equal or more senior officers for the role. Former Royal Commissioner Donald Stewart observed that in 1976, Lewis "was plucked from well-deserved obscurity by Premier Bjelke-Petersen to be his vassal, to do his bidding, lawful or otherwise".

Downfall

Lewis served as Police Commissioner from 1976 to 1987, receiving a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

hood, but was stood down by police minister Bill Gunn on 21 September 1987 before being dismissed on 19 April 1989. By 1980, Detective Jack Herbert had become Lewis's bagman, but he later became a major informant against Lewis and others at the Fitzgerald Inquiry. Assistant Commissioner

Graeme Parker Graeme Milroy Glen Parker (born 1982) is a Scottish cattle hoof trimmer, author, and YouTuber. His YouTube channel, The Hoof GP, was created in 2019 and primarily consists of videos of hoof trimming. It is the largest agricultural YouTube chan ...

also confessed to corruption and implicated Lewis on 16 September 1987.

Trial

Following the end of the Fitzgerald Inquiry, Lewis was charged in 1989 with 23 counts of

perjury Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...

, corruption, and forgery. After hearing evidence over five months and having deliberated for five days, a District Court jury found that, although Lewis had not lied to the inquiry, he had accepted

bribes Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official duty, to act contrar ...

totalling $700,000 to protect

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

s, SP (

starting price In horse racing and greyhound racing, the starting price (SP) is the odds prevailing on a particular entry in the on-course fixed-odds betting market at the time a race begins. The method by which SPs are set for each runner varies in different ...

)

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

s, illegal

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

s, and in-line machine operators and to prevent poker machines being legally introduced in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Prison

Judge Healy sentenced Lewis to the maximum prison term possible – 14 years on the 15 corruption charges and 10 years on the forgery charge – to be served concurrently, fixed a non-parole period of 9½ years, and fined Lewis $50,000 on each of the corruption charges. Lewis was paroled in 2002 after serving 10½ years. He maintained his innocence, suing his former lawyers and pursuing further appeals,. the last of which failed in August 2005.

Death

Lewis died on 5 May 2023, at age 95.

Awards and honours

Lewis received the following honours:

Churchill Fellowship Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

in 1968 for his work with the Juvenile Aid Bureau. In March 1993 the Queen stripped Lewis of the awards of Knight Bachelor, Officer of the Order of the British Empire and Queen's Police Medal for Merit.''Queensland Gazette'' No. 69, 26 March 1993, p. 1543 Lewis became only the 14th person since the 14th century to be stripped of his knighthood. He retained the George Medal, which was awarded for gallantry, and the National Medal, awarded for service.

References

External links

Two books about crime and corruption in the Queensland police
– Gold Coast Writers Association, 2014.

''

News Limited News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television pr ...

'', 1 January 2007
"The State of Play in Acquisition of Property: Theophanous v The Commonwealth" PDF
Sean Brennan, 16 February 2007

''

The Courier Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern ...

'' 2 March 2013 "Last Man Standing: Condemned former state police commissioner Terence Lewis decides it's time to tell his side of the story",

Matthew Condon Matthew Condon (born 1962) is a prize-winning Australian writer and journalist. Biography Educated at the University of Queensland and the Goethe Institute, Bremen, Germany, he is the author of ten novels and short story collections, includin ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Terry 1928 births 2023 deaths Australian prisoners and detainees Australian police officers convicted of crimes Police officers convicted of accepting bribes People stripped of a British Commonwealth honour Recipients of the George Medal Commissioners of the Queensland Police People convicted of forgery People from Brisbane Prisoners and detainees of Queensland