Disgraced police commissioner Terry Lewis shamed by Fitzgerald inquiry dies ... trends now
Former Queensland police commissioner Terry Lewis was one of the state's most controversial figures, whose spectacular fall from grace defined the reforms of the corruption-busting Fitzgerald inquiry.
His jailing, along with three government ministers, heralded the end of an era of widespread official misconduct and graft in Queensland.
The once-styled Sir Terence Murray Lewis was among the most high-profile victims of former judge Tony Fitzgerald's landmark 1987-89 inquiry.
The state's youngest police commissioner and holder of a knighthood for services to the force was denounced as a traitor to his oath after he was convicted of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes.
Yet Lewis maintained his innocence right up until his death on Friday, May 5, aged 95.
The state's youngest police commissioner and holder of a knighthood for services to the force was denounced as a traitor to his oath after he was convicted of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, but maintained his innocence up to his death on Friday aged 95
Born on February 29, 1928, Lewis was an unlikely police commissioner.
He was raised in a working class family and left school at 12 before drifting between various employers until he joined the police force at 20.
Known as a hard and diligent worker, in just two years Lewis was in plain clothes and working for the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB).
Later he would be put in charge of the Juvenile Aid Bureau, where he won a Churchill Fellowship to study policing techniques overseas.
It was in the CIB that Lewis grew close to corrupt police commissioner Frank Bischof and bribe-taking 'Rat Pack' officers Tony Murphy and Glen Hallahan.
In a scam known as 'the Joke', the Rat Pack collected protection money from brothels, gambling dens and illegal bookmakers in exchange for turning a blind eye to the illicit activities.
It was
