A man has been sentenced to a whole-life order, meaning he will spend the rest of his life in prison, for the murder of Sgt Matt Ratana, whom he shot with a gun he smuggled into a custody centre while handcuffed.
Last month, Louis De Zoysa, 26, was found guilty of killing Ratana, 54, by shooting him in the chest at point-blank range at a custody block in Croydon, south London, in September 2020.
His lawyers argued a defence of diminished responsibility and claimed De Zoysa had an “autistic meltdown” caused by the stress of the arrest and confined space, but after a three-week trial at Northampton crown court, a jury convicted him of murder.
Passing sentence on Thursday, Mr Justice Johnson said: “You did not have an autistic meltdown. Your actions were voluntary, they were controlled, they were deliberate, you acted in cold blood.
“The video footage shows you were treated with conspicuous compassion and kindness. None of the officers gave any reason for you to feel at risk of harm.
“You deliberately concealed the gun from the police. You made strenuous efforts to retrieve the gun while your hands were handcuffed behind your back. You had time and space to consider what to do. Autism is not to blame for your decision to murder Sgt Ratana, you are to blame for that.”
Ratana, originally from New Zealand, worked as the custody sergeant at the Windmill Road custody centre where De Zoysa was brought in the early hours on 25 September 2020, after being arrested for possession of cannabis and ammunition.
A gun concealed in a holster around De Zoysa’s chest was missed during an initial search by officers, and he managed to retrieve the weapon while travelling in a police van to the centre, despite his hands being handcuffed behind his back.
Reading a victim impact statement to the court, Su Bushby, Ratana’s partner of five years, said his murder was “the most devastating event that has happened to me in my life”.
“Not a day goes back when I don’t think of him, miss his smile, his humour, his laughter and his wonderful kind personality. Words cannot express the trauma of losing my courageous and gentle giant in such a terrible way,” she said.
“Matt understood the risks of working as a police officer, but being killed in such a way, in his own police station, is just too horrible for me to bear.”
De Zoysa received a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the neck during the incident, and a subsequent blood clot has left him with brain damage and physical disability.
His lawyer, Imran Khan KC, said communication problems caused by his injuries meant it “may never be possible to know exactly what was going through his mind” at the time of the shooting.
“The precise motive for why he shot Sgt Ratana may never be known,” he said. “We may never know why he had a loaded revolver on him. There was no evidence he went out to shoot a police officer, or anyone in particular.”
The court heard De Zoysa had suffered “vicious bullying” at school and was beaten by his father at home, and had not received a formal autism diagnosis until he was nearly 14.
At the time of the shooting he was living independently in Banstead, Surrey, had worked successfully as a tax analyst at HMRC, and was in a long-term relationship.
A stash of weapons, including a shortened infantry rifle, numerous types of ammunition, a pipe gun and a dummy launcher, were found at De Zoysa’s home after the killing.
A search of his digital devices confirmed his interest in weapons and uncovered material relating to ideologies including rightwing extremism, Islamic extremism and homophobia, all of which he later denied being interested in.
Ratana was the first police officer to be killed inside a British police station, and his death prompted the Independent Office for Police Conduct to recommend all forces carry handheld metal detectors.
De Zoysa, who will be held at HMP Belmarsh in south-east London, showed no obvious emotion as he was told he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
