Man convicted of murder in the shooting of a UK police officer while the suspect was handcuffed

LONDON -- A man was convicted of murder on Friday for shooting a British police officer with an antique handgun while the suspect was handcuffed in a cell nearly three years ago.

A jury deliberated for just over five hours before finding 25-year-old Louis De Zoysa guilty of killing Sgt. Matiu Ratana in September 2020.

Prosecutors said that De Zoysa shot Ratana, 54, at Croydon Custody Center in south London as he was about to be searched. He had been arrested for possessing drugs and bullets. But during an initial search, the arresting officers didn't find the 41-caliber revolver loaded with six rounds he kept in an underarm holster.

In the cell, De Zoysa managed to point the gun at Ratana’s chest and fire. A second bullet hit the police officer in the thigh, and a third hit the cell wall. A fourth shot struck De Zoysa in the neck, leaving him with brain damage.

The suspect, a former data analyst for the U.K. tax office, sat in the dock in a wheelchair during the three-week trial at Northampton Crown Court in central England.

De Zoysa’s lawyers argued he had pulled the trigger during an autistic meltdown, but jurors decided he had fired deliberately.

Judge Jeremy Johnson said that he would sentence De Zoysa next month.

New Zealand-born Ratana, who was known as Matt, was a keen rugby player who had been a police officer for 30 years and was three months from retirement when he was killed.

The Metropolitan Police force said that since Ratana’s death, it had issued hand-held metal detectors to front-line officers.

It's rare for police officers to be shot and killed in the U.K., which has strict firearms laws. Ratana was the 17th from the London force to be killed by a gun since 1945.

Before Ratana, the last London police officer killed in the line of duty was Constable Keith Palmer, who was stabbed to death in March 2017 during a vehicle and knife attack outside Parliament.