A man who shot and fatally injured a police officer while in custody has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of release.

Louis De Zoysa was found guilty of murdering custody sergeant Matt Ratana with a gun he bought legally.

Sgt Ratana, 53, from Goring, died in hospital after being hit by two bullets fired by De Zoysa. Despite him pleading not guilty by diminished responsibility, a jury found that De Zoysa pulled the trigger deliberately to fire home-made bullets.

At a sentencing hearing at Northampton Crown Court today, Judge Jeremy Johnson KC said: “He [Sgt Ratana] had devoted his life to public service.

“He put himself in the way of danger to protect the public.

The Argus: Sgt Matt RatanaSgt Matt Ratana (Image: PA)

“You have robbed Sue Bushby of their future life together, Diane Peachey of her stepson, Luke Ratana of his father and Jessica Williams and James Young of their brother.”

De Zoysa, 26, was found guilty after a three-week trial in which the jury was shown CCTV footage of the moment Sgt Ratana was shot in the custody centre in Croydon.

The court was told that after buying the revolver on the internet three months before the murder, De Zoysa used bullets he had made to test that it worked.

The bullets had been made with parts De Zoysa also bought online, the court heard.


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Pre-trial hearings, at which De Zoysa was twice ruled fit to plead despite his communication problems, were told he has no previous convictions.

An examination of his digital devices confirmed his interest in weapons and uncovered material relating to ideologies including right-wing extremism, Islamic extremism and homophobia, all of which he later denied being interested in.

The Argus: Louis De ZoysaLouis De Zoysa (Image: PA)

Sgt Ratana, serving with the Metropolitan Police, was a popular figure in the rugby community in Sussex as coach of East Grinstead RFC.

Louis De Zoysa was sentenced to life imprisonment and a whole life order was imposed, meaning that he would not be eligible for parole.

In a sentencing that was televised for one of the first times in the UK, Judge Johnson found that the aggravating factors of the case outweighed the mitigating factors and there imposed the whole life order.