While the Queen was touring the South Island city of Dunedin on October 14, 1981, Christopher Lewis, then 17 years old, fired a single shot toward the Queen's auto, according to papers from the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS).

Lewis was instead charged with unlawful possession and discharge of a firearm and was sentenced to three years jail. This month, journalist Hamish McNeilly finally succeeded in getting access to secret files from SIS which confirmed the assassination attempt and police investigation.

He said there were two other members called the Snowman and the Polar Bear, but later admitted he'd made them up. On her way, she stepped out of her motorcade to greet onlookers.

The bullet went nowhere near the royal party, which carried on as if nothing had happened.

Tom Lewis, 17, no relation of the would-be assassin, said his namesake was less than 160ft from where the Queen passed, and was a "crack shot".

Lewis missed, though a distinct crack from the gunshot was heard by numerous 3,500 well-wishers, who came to see the Monarch.

After a former Dunedin detective went public about the assassination attempt in 1997, an SIS memo from the same year stated Lewis had meant to assassinate the Queen but did not have the equipment or vantage point to carry out the attack.

Since the incident, Christopher Lewis had been described as "mentally disturbed".

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Christopher John Lewis, left, when arrested in Auckland in 1987.

The man who attempted to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II allegedly killed himself while awaiting trial. "However, [he] did not have a suitable vantage point from which to fire, nor a sufficiently high-powered rifle for the range from the target".

The official story was it had been a council sign falling over.

"Current police investigations into the shots have been conducted discreetly and most media representatives probably have the impression that the noise was caused by a firework of some description", read a November 1981 SIS memo.

Authorities initially told people who heard the shot that the noise was from a falling sign or a auto backfiring. The country's police are now under pressure to open a fresh inquiry into the case.

A former police officer and local media have suggested a cover-up took place.

NEW Zealand cops will investigate a 1981 assassination attempt on the Queen amid allegations the government tried to cover it up at the time. Surprisingly, he was never charged with treason.