Louis de Zoysa who shot dead cop in custody suite while handcuffed will die in jail after being handed whole life order | The Sun
A GUN fanatic who shot dead a cop "in cold blood" while inside a custody suite will die in jail after he was handed a whole life order.
Louis de Zoysa, 25, was still handcuffed when he pulled out a hidden antique revolver and fired four shots.
Sergeant Matt Ratana, 54, was blasted two times during the horror at Croydon Custody Centre on September 25, 2020.
The third bullet struck a wall, with the fourth hitting De Zoysa in the face causing brain damage.
De Zoysa, who now uses a wheelchair and has a whiteboard to communicate, has today been handed a whole life tariff.
The order means he will join the grim ranks of other criminals who will die behind bars, including Wayne Couzens and Rose West.
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De Zoysa was convicted of murder last month after just over five hours of deliberation.
Sgt Ratana's partner Su Busby, who wept as the sentence was handed down, read an emotional victim impact statement to the court.
She told how her whole body "froze" and she felt "such shock and cold" after learning her partner had been shot.
Su added: "The words seemed to come out in slow motion and I can remember falling to the floor screaming and crying uncontrollably.
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"Everyday I am still waiting for him to walk through the door."
Su told how she found it "extremely difficult" to face de Zoysa when she first saw him in November 2022.
She also said she would "never wish" anyone to go through what she has waiting for justice.
Su added: "I was overwhelmed with grief and pain seeing him and his family and knowing they still had their son.
"The man who shot Matt gets to remain on this earth and he doesn't. He was an amazing man and didn't deserve to die.
"Prior to trial I was given the opportunity to watch the CCTV and have some kind of understanding of what happened.
"It was so difficult to hear Matt's voice and see him in the video being a custody sergeant, a role he loved, knowing that when he went into that room his life would be over seconds later."
Su also told how she would never forgive her partner's killer after he "tore my life apart".
Sgt Ratana had tragically been planning to propose to Su when he was killed.
She said: "My heart is broken and my heart feels empty- words cannot explain the trauma of losing my courageous and gentle giant in such away.
"I don't believe I will ever truly recover from losing my soulmate."
Chilling footage played to jurors showed the killer pulling out the gun inside the custody suite before firing into Sgt Ratana's chest.
Two other officers then wrestle De Zoysa to the ground as a third bullet hits the wall of the cell.
The bodycam footage shows the cops continuing to grapple with the killer as they attempt to Taser him.
In the 16 seconds after the third shot was heard, De Zoysa blasted himself in the face.
The gunman had been stopped by police in Norbury, South London, at 1.30am.
Officers arrested him after finding cannabis and several bullets but the gun was not discovered during the stop-and-search.
The revolver was likely concealed in a holster "under one of his armpits", the court was told.
Tragically, Sgt Ratana had moved to work in custody because it was safer before his killing.
The cop, who had served with the Met since 1991, was the first ever officer to be killed inside a British police station.
Imran Khan KC, defending, claimed De Zoysa said he was suffering an autistic meltdown at the time and “did not mean to or want to kill Sgt Ratana, or to cause him really serious harm”.
But prosecutors argued he “pulled the trigger on purpose four times” while he was handcuffed in the holding room.
De Zoysa had bought the antique revolver legally at an online auction in June 2020.
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Although bullets to fit the gun are no longer available, he bought parts to make the equipment and manufactured them at home in Banstead, Surrey.
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