A man who smuggled an antique gun into a police station before shooting dead a policeman at point blank range received £167,000 in legal aid.

Louis De Zoysa, 27, was jailed for life in 2023 after being convicted of the murder of police officer Matt Ratana, 54, following the shooting in September 2020.

De Zoysa had an antique gun on him but officers who searched him before his arrival at the custody block in Croydon, south London, failed to find it.

Despite being handcuffed he managed to get hold of the weapon while in a cell and then used it to shoot Sgt Ratana twice in the chest.

De Zoysa had denied the murder and his legal team argued a defence of diminished responsibly claiming he suffered from a ‘autistic meltdown’ caused by the stress of the arrest and being held in a confined space.

Officials have now revealed that lawyers on behalf of De Zoysa were paid £167,341 to build up his defence case and provide legal representation for him in court.

Sgt Ratana, originally from New Zealand, had been a Metropolitan police officer for 29 years and was three months from retirement at the time of his murder.

The high ranking officer died in hospital despite the best efforts of medical staff to save him. 

Louis De Zoysa was sentenced to life by a High Court judge at Northampton Crown Court last year following the murder of Sergeant Matt Ratana

Sergeant Matt Ratana was two months away from retiring when he was fatally shot with an antique firearm that Mr De Zoysa had managed to successful conceal

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

Louis De Zoysa was handing a whole-life order upon sentencing, meaning he will never be released unless there are exceptional circumstances to warrant it. 

He joined a list of more than 60 criminals serving whole-life orders in the UK, including Sarah Everard’s killer Wayne Couzens, necrophiliac David Fuller and quadruple murderer Damien Bendall. 
 De Zoysa was found guilty of murder at Northampton Crown Court after jurors were shown distressing CCTV footage of him using a legally bought revolver to shoot Sgt Ratana.

The jury which convicted the former tax office data analyst was not told a shortened infantry rifle, numerous types of ammunition, a pipe gun and a dummy launcher were found at his rented property after the killing.

De Zoysa, a former UCL student and cannabis addict, claimed the gun that killed Sgt Ratana had gone off by accident – but laboratory tests showed this was not possible.

Analysis of his devices revealed an interest in weaponry and violence including right wing extremism, Islamic extremism and homophobia. 

Speaking at the sentencing in 2023, Sgt Ratana’s partner Su Bushby, whom he had been planning to propose to before he died, said: ‘Losing Matt, my partner of five years was the most devastating event that happened in my life.

‘If he was alive today we would be celebrating eight years together. When I was told Matt had been shot my whole body just froze, I felt such shock and cold.

Sgt Ratana’s partner said losing her partner of five years was the most devastating event that happened in her life

The revolver used by Louis De Zoysa to shoot Metropolitan Police officer Matt Ratana in the chest inside a custody block in Croydon

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

De Zoysa, depicted here in a court sketch, gave some of his evidence by writing and drawing on a court whiteboard and the trial was conducted in simplified language because of his brain injury

‘The words seemed to come out in slow motion and I can remember falling to the floor screaming and crying uncontrollably. Everyday I am still waiting for him to walk through the door.

‘I remember seeing the man who shot him in November 2022 and I found it extremely difficult to face him and remember thinking how unfair it was.

‘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.’