An autistic man who shot dead a custody sergeant in a police cell with an antique gun he bought online has been given a whole life sentence.
‘You Acted in Cold Blood’
On Thursday, Mr. Justice Jeremy Johnson told Mr. De Zoysa: “You acted in cold blood. You intended to kill Sergeant Ratana. You aimed the gun at his chest at near point-blank range. Even as he fell you re-aimed and fired a second shot at him.”“The aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors. There is therefore no justification to depart from the starting point of a whole life order,” he added.
He lived in a flat at a farm in Banstead, Surrey, and bought the weapon, a .41 long Colt revolver, at an online auction in June 2020 but found out the ammunition was obsolete.
Prosecutor Duncan Penny, KC, told the jury: “So if you want the gun to work, you have to make the bullets. Louis de Zoysa bought the parts to make the bullets. He had made the ammunition for the gun at the farm where he lived.”
“Louis de Zoysa knew the gun worked with the bullets he had made. Louis de Zoysa fired the gun at Sergeant Ratana. At the time, the gun was loaded with bullets. Louis de Zoysa had made those bullets,” Mr. Penny added.
Gun was Missed by Officers who Searched him
The jury was shown body-worn camera footage from the arresting officers—identified only as Davey and Still—which showed Mr. De Zoysa being asked if he had anything on him like needles or razor blades which could hurt them.They then searched his coat pockets, his waistband, and his holdall and found cannabis and seven rounds of ammunition, which he told them were blanks.
Mr. Penny said: “The police officers did not find that Louis De Zoysa was carrying a loaded revolver in a holster. The gun and holster were probably concealed under one of his armpits.”
At his trial Imran Khan, KC, suggested his client was guilty of manslaughter by diminished responsibility and claimed Mr. De Zoysa had suffered an “autistic meltdown.”
But the jury rejected the defence’s argument.
When the police interrogated Mr. De Zoysa’s digital devices they showed he had an extensive interest in weapons, right-wing extremism, Islamic extremism and homophobia, although he later denied being interested in any ideology.
Because of his self-inflicted injuries, Mr. De Zoysa—who appeared in court in a wheelchair, with one arm in a sling—has difficulty speaking and used a whiteboard to communicate with his legal team during the trial.
After he was convicted, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was recommending police forces equip all response vehicles with search wands, like those used in airports, which can detect hidden metal items like guns.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said that since Mr. Ratana’s death, the Metropolitan Police has issued more than 4,000 handheld metal detectors to frontline officers, all frontline vehicles and all custody suites and piloted the use of full body scanners in custody suites.
IOPC director of operations, Amanda Rowe, said the officers who searched Mr. De Zoysa were recommended for extra training but she commended them for their “incredible bravery” in disarming him during the incident.
