Moran, Richard (January 1986). "The Punitive Uses of the Insanity Defense: The Trial for Treason of Edward Oxford (1840)". International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 9 (2): 171–190. doi: 10.1016/0160-2527(86)90045-2. PMID 3542856. Taylor provided two lines of defence for Oxford: the first was that the pistols were not loaded; the second that Oxford was insane. [55] According to Murphy, the biggest weakness of the government's case was that they could not prove that the pistols were loaded. [56] When questioned, a policeman informed the court that no bullet had been found, despite an extensive search of the area that included sweeping up the dust and dirt and putting it through a sieve; nearby walls were examined for bullet holes, but none had been found. [57] Although when he was first questioned Oxford had said he had loaded the pistols, the arresting officer said he may have misremembered Oxford's exact words; [58] Taylor passed off Oxford's initial claim as being a vainglorious boast. [59] Kaplan, Robert M. (20 January 2023). "Daniel M'Naghten: The Man Who Changed the Law on Insanity". Psychiatric Times. 40 (1): 19–20.

McNeilly, Hamish (28 February 2018). "Intelligence documents confirm assassination attempt on Queen Elizabeth in New Zealand". The Sydney Morning Herald.Brian: Yes they probably were having a good time, yes, yes, before they heard all this nonsense. Hmm, where's the microphone, which one? This one, hello it's Brian here. 'Fraid I've lost my voice because I've been bellowing. Oh God, God I wish someone would shut that bloody guitarist up, it's dreadful. Well actually we'd love to be with you, we're sorry we're not with you but we're too busy making silly noises and thinking up new chords like this one and um, and having mid life crises and things. You see it's all very easy for you but we have a lot of work to do so we're going to play you this song instead. It goes like this. Bedlam". Oxford English Dictionary (Onlineed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/OED/1101861163 . Retrieved 29 July 2023. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) The New Zealand Police covered up the story, charging him with possession of a firearm, but kept the event under wraps as they were concerned that it would create a negative image of New Zealand and endanger future royal visits. [6] [7] [2] According to police files, Lewis was being asked about an unrelated robbery, when he took police to the position where he had fired at the Queen and showed police the empty casings and the rifle. [8] The facts of the attempt were classified, until released in February 2018 in response to a request from Fairfax Media. [5]

Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (6 March 1843). "Insanity And Crime". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Lords. col.289–290. Haydon's family kept the letters Oxford sent to Haydon. In the 1950s his descendants gave them to the National Library of Australia. [102] [119] [o] In 1987 Barry Smith came across the letters and published the article "Lights and Shadows in the Life of John Freeman", making public the connection between Oxford and Freeman. [120] [121] Jenny Sinclair wrote a full-length biography of Oxford in 2012, A Walking Shadow: The Remarkable Double Life of Edward Oxford and then undertook a PhD on him, writing her thesis, "Lights and Shadows in Australian Historical Fiction" in 2019. [102] [122] Sinclair considered that Freeman and Oxford were the same person, partly based on her observation that a photograph of Oxford taken at Bethlem Hospital shows a marked similarity to one taken of "Freeman" in 1888, when he was representing the church at the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition. [120] Legacy [ edit ] Later assassination attempts and the law [ edit ] Every other industry has to do it. You would never release a car, for example, that exploded as soon as you put your foot on the on the on the driving pedal, and yet social media companies and AI companies have been able to get away with murder. Christopher John Lewis (7 September 1964– 23 September 1997) was a New Zealand criminal who made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II in 1981. He planned later attempts at assassinating other British royal family members but was kept away from them by the authorities in New Zealand. Rychner, Georgina (2018). "Temporary Fits, Animal Passions: Insanity in Victorian Capital Trials, 1890–1935". Health and History. 20 (1): 28–51. doi: 10.5401/healthhist.20.1.0028. ISSN 1442-1771. JSTOR 10.5401/healthhist.20.1.0028. S2CID 80995712.On 23 April 1900, four days after his 78th birthday, Oxford died of apoplexy; he was buried in Melbourne General Cemetery. [118] Historiography [ edit ]