Police sergeant Matt Ratana's murderer to challenge life sentence

Police sergeant Matt Ratana’s murderer to challenge his whole life sentence in a bid to get out of prison early

• Louis De Zoysa, 26, planning to appeal the ruling that found him guilty of murder

The man who murdered police sergeant Matt Ratana is preparing to challenge his whole life sentence in a bid to get out of prison early.

Louis De Zoysa, 26, is planning to appeal the ruling that found him guilty of shooting Sgt Ratana, 54, while handcuffed in a custody suite, sources told the Sun.

He is expected to say he was unfit to stand trial after he claimed he was having an ‘autistic meltdown’ and did not deliberately shoot the New Zealander, which the jury disputed.

De Zoysa will also highlight the judge’s refusal to allow the jury to visit the cell where he shot the Met officer in September 2020 and say that the judge misdirected the jury during his trial.

His planned appeal comes after he was convicted of murder last month after jurors were shown distressing CCTV footage of the former tax office data analyst using a legally bought revolver to gun down Sgt Ratana.

Louis De Zoysa was sentenced to life by a High Court judge at Northampton Crown Court

Sergeant Matt Ratana was two months away from retiring when he was fatally shot 

De Zoysa said his ‘hypermobility’ allowed him to blast the 54-year-old even though his hands were cuffed behind his back.

New Zealand-born officer Sgt Ratana was just two months away from retiring when he was killed in the early hours of September 25, 2020.

He was the first police officer ever killed inside a police station in the UK.

De Zoysa was arrested on the street and police officers found seven bullets on him and two bags of cannabis.

But the search failed to detect the gun, which De Zoysa was still hiding in a holster under his armpit when he went into the Windmill Custody Centre in Croydon.

He had bought the revolver at an online antiques auction in June 2020 and made the bullets himself on the farm where he lived.

One bullet hit Sgt Ratana in the chest while a fourth shot hit De Zoysa in the neck and he suffered a stroke which left him with severe brain damage.

Sentencing De Zoysa in July Mr Justice Johnson said: ‘Sgt Ratana had devoted his life to public service, he put himself in danger to protect the public and protect and safeguard those who came into custody.

Screen grab taken from body worn camera footage issued by the Metropolitan Police of Louis De Zoysa being put into a police van before the murder

Chilling footage from inside the cell showed the moments before Sgt Ratana was shot dead

‘His family are all rightly immensely proud of the man you killed.

‘They recognise that you bear the sole responsibility for his murder. They say in victim impact statement that for the officers on duty that night they have nothing but support, admiration and respect.

‘You said that you had an autistic meltdown. You said you had diminished responsibility.

‘You did not have an autistic meltdown. Your actions were voluntarily, controlled and deliberate. 

‘You acted in cold blood. You intended to kill Sgt Ratana. You deliberately aimed the gun at his chest at near point blank range.

‘Even as he fell to the ground you re-aimed and fired a second shot at him.

‘Autism does not cause people to be violent. Autistic people are no more likely to commit violent offences than anyone else.

‘Autism is not to blame for your decision to murder Sgt Ratana, you are responsible for that.’

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