Sgt Matiu Ratana: Detention officer astonished gun missed in search

Matt Ratana, who was head coach at East Grinstead Rugby Club, was shot at a Metropolitan Police custody suite in Croydon

A detention officer who discovered a holster that concealed a gun used to murder a custody sergeant expressed his "astonishment" that colleagues missed it during a search, an inquest heard.

Sgt Matiu Ratana was shot dead by Louis De Zoysa in Croydon custody centre in south London in September 2020.

His Met Police colleague Richard Adams said he swore loudly when he discovered De Zoysa had a holster on.

He also felt "uneasy" about De Zoysa and saw the detainee was walking oddly.

The 26-year-old had earlier been arrested and searched but officers failed to find the antique revolver despite discovering bullets in his pocket.

Mr Adams told the coroner at Croydon Town Hall: "As De Zoysa was brought into custody he kept his back to the wall and took a sidestep so his back stayed against the wall" and that he was allowed to walk "outside the reactionary gap" - more than an arm's length from the detainee.

Louis De Zoysa, pictured here in the custody van, is serving a whole-life prison sentence for murder

Sgt Gavin Hutt, who drove De Zoysa to the Windmill Road custody centre, admitted he had not properly monitored the gunman as he left the van, and did not see that his hands were hidden under his jacket.

Mr Ratana, a 54-year-old New Zealand-born officer had served in the Met for almost 30 years.

He was three months from retirement when he 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, and a third round hit the cell wall.

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 prison sentence for Sgt Ratana's murder after a trial earlier this year, during which his legal team argued that he was suffering an autistic meltdown at the time of the shooting.

The inquest also heard that since the shooting of Sgt Ratana, custody suite staff must wear body armour.

In a three-year period between 2018 and 2020, there were 296 instances of contraband being brought into custody suites, 29 of which were weapons, it was said.

The inquest continues.

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