Sgt Matt Ratana's partner sues Met Police after his murder in custody suite
A murdered Metropolitan Police sergeant’s partner is suing the force after he was shot dead in custody.
Sgt Matt Ratana, 54, would still be alive if the gunman had been searched properly, Su Bushby said as she launched legal action against Scotland Yard.
The officer was murdered when Louis De Zoysa opened fire with an antique revolver while handcuffed at Croydon custody suite in south London in September 2020.
The 26-year-old had earlier been arrested and searched but officers failed to find the gun he had in an underarm holster, despite discovering bullets in his pocket.
The Met Police confirmed that it had received the civil claim and remained “in dialogue with the claimant’s legal representative”.
Ms Bushby told the Mirror: “If it was an effective search the gun would have been found on De Zoysa and Matt would be alive now.
“The shoddy and inadequate search by officers was a neglect of their duty and left Matt vulnerable. The number of failures that came out during the inquest has left me devastated.
“I have not been informed by anyone during this time that the actions of the Metropolitan Police may have contributed towards Matt’s death.”
De Zoysa, a cannabis user, was convicted of murder in June last year after jurors were shown distressing CCTV footage of the 26-year-old using a legally-bought revolver to shoot the officer. Sgt Ratana died in hospital after being struck by two bullets in the holding cell.
The gunman was sentenced to a whole-life term, meaning he will never be freed, as Justice Jeremy Johnson told him at Northampton Crown Court that “you acted in cold blood”.
De Zoysa’s legal team said he was having an autistic meltdown at the time of the shooting, but the judge said that his “autism is not to blame for this – you are”.
In video footage from the police van that took him to custody, De Zoysa was seen wriggling around, which according to expert evidence was him repositioning the firearm to his hands.
After arriving at Croydon’s Windmill Road custody centre, De Zoysa was allowed to walk without an officer gripping his arm, or handcuffs.
De Zoysa, a former tax office data analyst, later managed to move his handcuffed arms from behind his back to fire at Sgt Ratana at point-blank range.
The New Zealand-born officer, who had served in the Met Police for almost 30 years and was three months from retirement, was hit in the chest by the first of three shots discharged by De Zoysa within three seconds.
A second bullet struck him in the thigh before De Zoysa was wrestled to the ground by other officers, as a third round hit the cell wall.
