Partner of cop shot in station says he'd be alive now if not for a fatal error
The former partner of a police sergeant who was shot dead in a custody cell has spoken of her anger after his colleagues failed to find the gun used to kill him.
Matt Ratana, 54, was murdered in the early hours of September 25, 2020 by Louis de Zoysa, who opened fire with an antique revolver at Croydon custody suite in south London. De Zoysa, who is autistic, had earlier been arrested and searched but rookie PC Richard Davey failed to find the gun the 26-year-old had in an underarm holster, despite discovering bullets in his pocket.
Senior coroner Sarah Ormond-Walshe, concluding an inquest at Croydon Town Hall on Monday into Sgt Ratana's death, ruled it was an unlawful killing. She went on: "There was a failure to carry out a safe, thorough and systematic search".
Speaking outside the inquest, Sgt Ratana's former partner, Su Bushby, accused the Met of keeping her in the dark about the failings. She said: "Over the past three years the pain has been unbearable. The person that I was has gone forever. The pain has been made worse because of the fact that things should have been different and Matt’s death should have been avoided – for that reason, I am angry.
Sergeant Ratana was shot in the chest inside a custody block in Croydon (PA)
Matt Ratana and Su Bushby are pictured together (PA)"Matt was killed doing the job he loved, in a police station, which should have been a place of safety and security for him. Over the course of the last three weeks, evidence has been heard at this Inquest as to how De Zoysa was able to smuggle a gun into Croydon Police Station.
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"I have heard evidence regarding how Metropolitan Police officers did not do their jobs properly, in searching a man who was in possession of a significant amount of drugs and bullets. If it wasn’t for a catalogue of serious failings, and if people had done their job properly, Matt would still be alive today. The shoddy and inadequate search undertaken by the police officers was a neglect of their duty and left Matt vulnerable to murder.
"The number of failures, the gravity of them and the impact of both the search failures and failures in the transportation of De Zoysa to the police station, that have come out during the evidence in this Inquest, has left me devastated. It is my view that Matt has been let down by the Metropolitan Police
"Matt gave so much to the Metropolitan Police and its failures to protect him on that night are now clear for all to see. The search should have been thorough, safe and systematic for it to be effective – it was none of those things. If it was an effective search, the gun would have been found on De Zoysa, and Matt would be alive now."
Body-worn camera footage shows Louis De Zoysa in a police van on the day in question (PA)Ms Bushby added: "Not once, during the past three years, has anyone from the Metropolitan Police informed me that there was any issue with the search on that fateful night. I have not been informed by anyone during this time that the actions of the Metropolitan Police may have contributed towards Matt’s death. If the Metropolitan Police had been more open and transparent with me about their failings, it would have gone a long way to making the last few weeks of this Inquest easier."
PC Davey, a probationer who carried out the search while his more experienced colleague, PC Samantha Still, assisted, admitted he abandoned his training and should have discovered the weapon during the arrest in London Road, Norbury, at about 1.30am. In the custody van, de Zoysa was seen in footage wriggling and jerking, which according to expert evidence was him repositioning the firearm to his hands.
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, 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.
Former tax office data analyst de Zoysa, who was living in a flat on a farm in Banstead, Surrey, discharged a fourth shot while on the cell floor, hitting an artery in his own neck and causing him brain damage. He is serving a whole-life jail term for Sgt Ratana's murder after a trial earlier this year, during which his legal team said he was suffering an autistic meltdown at the time of the shooting.
De Zoysa is depicted by court sketch artist Elizabeth Cook during his trial at Northampton Crown Court (PA)The coroner's findings pave the way for Ms Bushby to take a civil case against the Met. Her solicitor, Patrick Maguire, answered "no comment" when asked outside court if his client would be suing the force.
In her statement, Ms Bushby said she would "never forgive" De Zoysa for his "evil actions". She said: "Matt and I were robbed of a bright future together. It has been stolen from us in a cruel, violent and devastating manner. I will never recover from losing my soulmate. Matt was my world and we were looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together. Matt was a caring, considerate and loving man. His huge smile was infectious. His calm and cheerful demeanour won people over in an instant. He had that rare gift of making people feel included, relevant and listened to."
Referring to how 29 weapons had been smuggled into London police stations in the three years before the murder, she said: "The scale of this problem is truly shocking and things need to change." Ms Bushby called for search training to be fully reviewed, adding: "I want everyone to know, especially police officers, that improvements must be made or more lives will be lost. I do not want Matt’s death to be in vain."
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Meanwhile de Zoysa's father, Channa de Zoysa, said "two bad apples" in the Metropolitan Police have ruined lives. He told reporters outside Croydon Town Hall: "It just shows how two bad apples in the establishment can ruin lives."
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