Murderer who shot dead Met sergeant Matt Ratana loses conviction and sentence appeal bids

A man who murdered Metropolitan Police sergeant Matt Ratana has lost bids to challenge his conviction and sentence at the Court of Appeal.

Louis De Zoysa fatally shot the police sergeant twice in a holding cell in Croydon, south London, in September 2020.

De Zoysa, aged 27, was given a whole-life order in July 2023 after he was found guilty of murder at Northampton Crown Court.

At a hearing on Thursday, De Zoysa’s barristers told the Court of Appeal that he should be allowed to challenge his conviction and sentence, on the grounds that he was wrongly deemed fit to plead and stand trial, and that his sentence should not have been a whole life order.

However in a ruling, Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Goss and Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb dismissed the appeal bids.

Dame Victoria said: “All applications will be refused, for reasons which we will give in writing.”

The judge added that the written reasons for their decision will come at a later date.

An inquest in November 2023 heard Ratana’s colleagues failed to conduct a “safe, thorough and systematic” search. De Zoysa had been arrested and searched but officers failed to find the gun he had in an underarm holster, despite discovering bullets in his pocket.

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.