Letter to The Queen about Prof. Meirion Lewis's CBE

It is my opinion that individuals should not be given honours if they can be shown to have a dishonest character, and giving false evidence under oath in court would seem to me to be a fairly dishonest action, especially when the person concerned will not attempt to correct the damage caused by such lies.

I thought it was about time to ask the The Queen to step into this affair, and for her to consider whether it is now time to revoke Meirion Francis Lewis's CBE:

From: Michael John Smith

2 July 2008

To: Her Majesty The Queen
Buckingham Palace
London, SW1A 1AA


Your Majesty,

Professor Meirion Francis Lewis, CBE, PhD (Oxford), FInstP, FREng

I have to make a serious allegation against a person who featured in Her Majesty’s Birthday Honours list of 1999.

Mr Meirion Francis Lewis was awarded the Honour of a CBE in that list, but I have to tell you that he is unworthy of such an award by reason of his dishonest behaviour.

In 1993 Mr Lewis was called to give evidence at a trial where I stood accused of offences under the Official Secrets Act. His evidence was instrumental in causing my conviction, and I spent more than 10 years in prison as a result.

A key issue in Mr Lewis’s testimony was that a particular document had been used to manufacture ALARM missiles deployed in the Gulf War of 1991, and that this document could have been used to devise jamming methods to nullify ALARM.

I have attempted to overturn my conviction during the past 15 years, and in so doing I have discovered important technical errors in Mr Lewis's evidence. Then, in October 2007, I have found that the document Mr Lewis claimed was used on ALARM missiles was in fact made obsolete in 1984, over 8 years before my arrest, and so could never have been used on any ALARM missile in service with our Armed Forces.

Whether by his own decision or through coercion from the MoD, Mr Lewis did mislead the Court at my trial. He is at least guilty of perverting the course of justice, but he may actually have committed perjury. If you need the proof, I can send you documents that demonstrate quite clearly that Mr Lewis told lies in Court.

Mr Lewis is aggravating the effect of his bad conduct by refusing to acknowledge that he gave false evidence in Court, and he continues to maintain that he did not lie on oath.

I see the behaviour of Mr Lewis as intolerable, and I believe he is an unfit person to hold such a national honour as a CBE. I therefore ask that you consider the revocation of his award as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,
Michael John Smith

Copies sent to:
Ceremonial Secretariat, Cabinet Office
Dr John Hood, Vice-Chancellor Oxford University
Professor Roger Davies, Chairman of Physics Department Oxford University
Dr Robert Kirby-Harris, Chief Executive Institute of Physics
Mr Philip Greenish, Chief Executive Royal Academy of Engineering
The London Gazette
Richard Jefferies, solicitor at trial
Jason Lewis, journalist at Mail on Sunday