Police officer ‘could still be alive if proper search of gunman carried out’

A police officer who was shot dead by a prisoner could still be alive if a proper search of the gunman had been carried out, his partner has claimed.

Matt Ratana, of the Metropolitan Police, was murdered in the early hours of September 25 2020 by Louis de Zoysa, who opened fire with an antique revolver at Croydon custody suite in south London.

De Zoysa, who is autistic, had earlier been arrested and searched but officers failed to find the gun the 26-year-old had in an underarm holster, despite discovering bullets in his pocket.

Senior coroner Sarah Ormond-Walshe, concluding an inquest into Sgt Ratana’s death in November, ruled it was an unlawful killing.

On Thursday, the Mirror reported that his partner Su Bushby, 47, is suing Scotland Yard.

The Met Police confirmed that it had received the civil claim, adding that it remains “in dialogue with the claimant’s legal representative”.

“If it was an effective search the gun would have been found on de Zoysa and Matt would be alive now,” she told the paper.

“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.”

In the custody van, de Zoysa was seen in footage wriggling and jerking, 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 later managed to move his handcuffed arms from behind his back to fire at Sgt Ratana.

The New Zealand-born officer, 54, 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.

Former tax office data analyst de Zoysa, who was living in a flat on a farm in Banstead, Surrey, discharged a fourth shot while on the cell floor, hitting an artery in his own neck and causing him brain damage.

He is serving a whole-life jail term for Sgt Ratana’s murder after a trial earlier this year, during which his legal team said he was suffering an autistic meltdown at the time of the shooting.