| Terence Murray "Terry" Lewis | |
|---|---|
| Born | 29 February 1928 |
| Conviction(s) | 16 counts of corruption and forgery |
| Penalty | 10½ years |
| Status | released |
Terence Murray "Terry" Lewis (born 29 February 1928) is a former Queensland, Australia police commissioner who was convicted and jailed for corruption as a result of the Fitzgerald Inquiry. He was stripped of his knighthood and other honours and awards in consequence.
In 1976 Lewis was promoted from obscurity to the rank of Assistant Police Commissioner to Ray Whitrod. Whitrod refused to work with Lewis, and resigned in protest when the Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen insisted on Lewis's appointment. Lewis became Police Commissioner from 1978 to 1987 and received a knighthood, before being dismissed by police minister Bill Gunn in September 1987. He was a close associate[1] of the corrupt former Police Commissioner Francis Bischof and as a senior constable was in charge of the Juvenile Aid Bureau.[2]
Assistant Commissioner Graeme Parker later confessed to corruption and implicated Lewis on 16 September 1987.[3] Lewis was charged with 23 counts of perjury, corruption, and forgery in 1989 when the inquiry ended.[4] After hearing evidence over five months, and having deliberated for five days, a District Court jury found that Lewis had not lied to the Fitzgerald Inquiry, but that he had accepted bribes totaling $700,000 to protect brothels, SP bookmakers, illegal casinos, in-line machine operators and to prevent poker machines being legally introduced in Queensland[5] and had also forged Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen's signature on an official police document in 1981.
Judge Healy sentenced Lewis to the maximum jail 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 has continued to protest his innocence, and sued his former lawyers and pursued further appeals.[6] However his appeals failed in August 2005.[7]
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Lewis received the following honours:
On 26 March 1993 he was stripped of all honours and titles by a notice in the Queensland Gazette of that date, No. 69, page 1543. Lewis became only the 14th person since the 14th century to be stripped of his knighthood.[18]