23 December 2023 , 20:40
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Guns continued to be smuggled into police stations long after officer Matt Ratana was shot dead by a prisoner who was not properly searched.
Despite warnings 18 months before the murder that metal-detecting wands should be fitted to all police vans, deadly weapons still made it into Metropolitan Police custody centres. The revolver Louis De Zoysa used to kill Sgt Ratana in 2020 was one of four guns smuggled in in under three years – plus two more since, our investigation found.
A police whistleblower inside MO9 – the department responsible for custody safety – said senior officers ignored a 2019 report telling Met management to improve “inadequate searching of prisoners” because “drugs and weapons have been found in cells and on prisoners post-search”.
Louis De Zoysa (PA)De Zoysa, 26, got a whole-life sentence for murdering Matt, 54, in Croydon, South London. A search failed to find the 10in antique revolver the gun fanatic had in a shoulder holster, an inquest heard. The Met has since admitted three firearms and an airgun were smuggled into custody centres in the previous 33 months, including one found in a toilet U-bend.
An imitation gun was found in a bag four months after Sgt Ratana’s murder, and a firearm in a suitcase in April 2002, it confirmed. Su Bushby, Sgt Ratana’s partner, who has slammed the force for not doing its job properly, is said to be preparing to sue.
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The whistleblower said: “The Met hid the truth that they failed to act on… representations that would’ve saved Matt’s life.” Sir Peter Bottomley, Matt’s MP, said: “We need to know what happened.”
Seconds before Ratana was shot (PA)A Met spokesman said: “We do not accept that concerns raised pre Matt’s murder… were ignored. In 2019 we introduced a four-stage search and early intervention process for detainees arriving in custody. This policy was enhanced after the death of PS Ratana. We began a roll-out of 4,300 hand-held search wands for use by officers.”