Killer of Matt Ratana handed life sentence for shooting Met Police Officer

A detained cannabis user who shot dead a custody sergeant has been sentenced to life in prison today. Louis De Zoysa, 26, was convicted of murdering Sgt Matt Ratana using a legally obtained revolver in June following the shock shooting in 2020. Jurors convicted De Zoysa after watching CCTV footage that showed him shooting New Zealand-born Sgt Ratana twice while he was handcuffed and held in custody in Croydon, south London, in 2020. They were not told that a shortened infantry rifle, several types of ammunition, a pipe gun and a dummy launcher were found at the former tax analyst’s rented  flat at a farm in Banstead, Surrey.  De Zoysa claimed diminished responsibility during the trial, but jurors decided he pulled the antique weapon’s trigger deliberately to fire homemade bullets, and did not suffer an autistic meltdown.