Cop who missed gun that killed Sgt Matt Ratana 'had failed stop and search exam'

28 October 2023 , 15:30

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Metropolitan Police of Sergeant Matt Ratana was shot by De Zoysa just weeks before his retirement (Image: PA)

An inquiry into the killing of police sergeant Matt Ratana will lay bare a string of shocking failures.

Findings include the revelation that the officer who failed to spot killer Louis De Zoysa’s revolver was a probationer with a poor training record.

Double-jointed De Zoysa was able to shoot Sgt Ratana in the custody centre in Croydon, South London, while handcuffed behind his back. The autistic former computer coder for HM Revenue and Customs had an antique Colt Army Special with a 3.5in barrel in a shoulder holster.

He was stopped on the street on September 25, 2020 at 1.30am by rookie Richard Davey. Davey unbuttoned De Zoysa’s All Saints jacket and found seven homemade bullets in a breast pouch. But the jacket was never removed during the five minute search.

The revolver lay on the floor as officers wrestle De Zoysa (PA)

The probationer had failed the stop and-search exam in July the previous year, three months after joining the Met, said the leaked report from the police watchdog. Davey asked about De Zoysa’s military boots.

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The prisoner said he had been a cadet, which did not prompt questions about firearms. PC Samantha Still, who had six years’ experience, mistook the live ammunition for nitrous oxide canisters. Assistance from a passing police car was refused and the arrest was not escalated to an armed response team.

New Zealander was weeks from retirement (PA)

Three more officers arrived yet none asked De Zoysa if he had a gun during 20 minutes he was detained in the street. Video footage showed Davey did not properly monitor De Zoysa in the van. Instead the officer looked up firearms legislation on a tablet so he could correctly re-arrest De Zoysa for possession of the bullets.

At the custody centre, De Zoysa was allowed to climb out unassisted and walk without any officer gripping his arm or the bridge of the handcuffs. In a witness statement, Richard Adams, a detention officer, said he was uneasy about this.

Moments later, just as he was about to be searched with a wand, De Zoysa shot custody sergeant Ratana, 54, in the chest and leg – weeks before the New Zealand-born cop was due to retire. Following a struggle with Davey, a third shot hit the wall and a fourth hit De Zoysa in the front of his neck causing severe brain damage and leaving him needing a wheelchair.

The gun used by De Zoysa and not spotted during the stop and search (PA)

It also emerged that the probationer has lost a notebook where he made entries about the stop and search. Two experts were critical of the officers’ deviation from training. Despite the failures, the report by the Independent Office of Police Conduct – to be made public on Monday - decided there were no misconduct issues.

Lead investigator Emma Nicholls accepted “events in custody were potentially preventable if the firearm had been located”. But she concluded, “I did not consider that the failure to locate this was due to any willful action on the part of any officer, nor did I consider it to be grossly negligent or a significant deviation from instructions.”

De Zoysa was able to shoot Sgt Ratana in the custody centre (PA)

Met deputy assistant commissioner Stuart Cundy praised the “professionalism and bravery” of officers that night. He said: “The IOPC did identify learning for two individual officers, around body searching and transportation of detainees. We have implemented the recommendations.” De Zoysa is serving a whole life sentence for murder.

Michael Gillard