The brother of a Met Police sergeant who was shot dead in a custody suite has accused the force of a cover-up.
Matt Ratana, 54, was shot in the heart by Louis De Zoysa, 25, after the arresting officers failed to find an antique revolver hidden in a holster under the killer’s armpit.
New Zealand-born Sgt Ratana’s brother James called De Zoysa “scum” and broke down in tears as he criticised the Metropolitan Police.
He said: “The fact they’ve covered it up, shoved it under the carpet and said, ‘It’s OK – have this Scotland Yard badge for your brother’.
“This disgusts me.”
De Zoysa was still handcuffed when he shot Sgt Ratana at the Croydon custody block in South London, after being stopped and searched in nearby Norbury and found with seven rounds of ammunition in September 2020.
De Zoysa deliberately fired the gun into the officer’s chest, causing a fatal wound to his heart and left lung.
A second shot hit Sgt Ratana in the leg, a third struck the cell wall during a struggle with officers, and a fourth hit De Zoysa in the neck, leaving him with brain damage.
On Friday, De Zoysa was found guilty of murder, and will be sentenced next month.
In an emotional interview with One News in New Zealand, James said he had talked to his brother on a video call two days before his death.
He said: “He was having a full English breakfast on the train, and I was like, ‘Aren’t you meant to be training, bro? That’s a fat boy breakfast, mate’.
“Because that’s how we were, we took the p*** out of each other.”
The brothers had only recently reconnected after James had been jailed for arson, burglary and assault.
His brother had visited him in jail and told him to “pull his head in”, asking him: “Why you still doing this?” A distraught James said: “He didn’t deserve to go like this.
“If anyone deserved to go the way he went, it’s me. The life I’ve lived… and he gets killed? For what?”
Sgt Ratana, described by his partner, Su Bushby, as a “gentle giant”, moved to the UK in his 20s and joined the Met in 1991. A talented rugby player, he moved into coaching when he stopped playing. Speaking after the murder trial, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: “Matt was an outstanding officer who brought joy to his work, treating everyone with respect, compassion and humour.
“The men and women in policing, daily stepping forward into uncertainty and risk, are truly remarkable.”
