Man found guilty of shooting Sussex officer dead at Croydon police station
Sergeant Matt Ratana died in 2020 after being hit by two bullets
Last updated 23rd Jun 2023
A man has been found guilty of murdering a Metropolitan Police sergeant using an antique revolver smuggled into a south London custody centre.
Sergeant Matt Ratana, 54, from Goring by Sea in West Sussex, was killed when he was shot at Croydon's Windmill Road custody block in the early hours of 25 September 2020.
Jurors at Northampton Crown Court were told he died of a chest wound after being hit by two bullets.
Lawyers acting for Louis De Zoysa argued he had a partial defence to the murder of Sgt Ratana on the grounds that his responsibility was diminished by an autistic meltdown.
De Zoysa, 25, from Banstead, Surrey, denied committing murder while he was handcuffed in a holding room, after being found with bullets by members of a street patrol.
The jury was told that De Zoysa said he did not mean to or want to kill Sgt Ratana, or to cause him really serious harm.
Prosecutors said De Zoysa "deliberately shot Sgt Ratana once to the chest, at very close range" using a gun that was "probably concealed under one of his armpits".
Jurors deliberated for just over five hours over two days before unanimously convicting Louis De Zoysa, who listened to the verdict sitting in a wheelchair in the secure glass-fronted dock.
De Zoysa nodded twice as the judge confirmed with him that he had heard the verdict being announced by the jury foreman.
Sgt Ratana's partner, Su Bushby, and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley were among those in the public gallery as the verdict was returned.
Sgt Ratana, who was head coach at East Grinstead Rugby Club, was originally from Hawke's Bay on New Zealand's North Island.
He served with the Metropolitan Police for much of his career, having joined the force in 1991.