Christopher John Lewis: A Deep Dive
Known for trying to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.
Christopher John Lewis 💀 1997 (33)
Born: 7 September 1964, Dunedin, New Zealand
Died: Suicide - 23 September 1997 Mount Eden Prison, Auckland, New Zealand (aged 33)
Known for: Attempted assassination of Queen Elizabeth II
Christopher John Lewis (7 September 1964 – 23 September 1997) was a New Zealand criminal who made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II on October 14 of 1981. As the Queen stepped out of the car, accompanied by her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, Lewis fired. The bullet went nowhere near the royal party, which carried on as if nothing had happened.
Media reports at the time, which refer to Lewis as an “anti-royalist,” said the attempt on the Queen’s life was hushed up for fear it would jeopardize future royal visits.
He planned future attempts at assassinating other British royal family members but was kept away from them by the authorities in New Zealand. Following the assassination attempt, Lewis was sentenced to three years in prison on the firearms charges and bounced between a youth detention center and maximum security psychiatric hospitals.
After his release in 1985, he was arrested on charges of aggravated robbery, attempted aggravated robbery and burglary, and sentenced to a further eight years in prison.
When he got out in 1992, he was quickly sent back to prison for the hold-up of a bank.
In 1995, Lewis was out on parole when another visit by the Queen was announced, this time to Auckland, NZ. “Lewis claims to be a reformed character,” a declassified report said. “Police however are skeptical, given the almost psychopathic nature of some of his past activities. They intend to keep in daily contact during the time of the Royal presence in Auckland.”
According to McNeilly, citing Lewis’ autobiography, the gunman was sent to Great Barrier Island, off the country’s north coast, at government expense. “All in all I had a great holiday and wasn’t at all fazed to spend 10 days away from Auckland,” Lewis wrote.
In 1997, Lewis was charged with the murder of Tania Furlan and the kidnapping of her daughter. He allegedly killed himself in custody before he could be brought to trial.
While extreme violence was not his usual MO, a former prison cellmate told police Lewis confessed to murdering Furlan. The informant, Travis Burns, had been at Paremoremo prison when Lewis was serving five years from 1987 for a string of robberies and burglaries.
Burns said Lewis, who was a self-proclaimed ninja and survival expert, needed money for a martial arts center. As part of the plot Lewis wanted to take Furlan hostage to extort money from her husband, Victor, who managed his local Big Fresh supermarket in Glenfield.
Lewis - who had by this time become a monk - and his partner were in Christchurch when police came for him. He was wearing the distinctive Reeboks at the time. He denied it to the end.
He was eventually charged with murder and sent to Mt Eden Prison where he died by electrocution in 1997 while awaiting trial. A prison guard found the 33-year-old in a “lifeless state in his cell”.
In his memoir – published after his death – Lewis maintained he did not kill Furlan, but was framed by Burns, who police paid $30,000 to be an informant against Lewis.
Burns was later convicted of the murder of Joanna McCarthy. The method was all too familiar. He battered her to death in front of her two children in a flurry of hammer blows, kicks and punches at her Whangaparaoa home on November 12, 1998.
Lewis’ former partner said she would have taken the stand in Lewis’ defense.
The woman said she had no reason to protect Lewis, and maintains he drove her to a yoga class at the time police say Furlan was murdered.