The suspect in the murder of police officer Sergeant Matiu Ratana in Croydon is Louis De Zoysa, it has been reported.

New Zealand-born Sgt Ratana, 54, died in hospital after being shot allegedly  several times in the heart at point-blank range at the Croydon custody centre in Windmill Road. 

Suspect Mr De Zoysa, 23, from Norbury, who  had been handcuffed and wounded in the neck from the same gun after turning it on himself or in the ensuing chaos, was named as the suspect by the BBC.

He is critically ill in hospital under armed guard, and is yet to be questioned by investigators.

It comes as a man was arrested in Norwich on suspicion of supplying a firearm linked to the murder, and armed police blew the doors off a barn in a ‘huge explosion’ as part of a raid in Banstead, Surrey.

Police have also been searching the family home of the suspect’s parents in Norbury where he reportedly lived and is eldest of five children of Channa and Elizabeth De Zoysa.

Mr De Zoysa ran Dr-a-bike repair sessions including at two Thornton Heath schools and his mother stood for the Green Party  in the local election.

Keen cyclists, events manager Mr De Zoysa and his wife a translator are well known for being eco friendly and won a Green Champions award. Sri Lankan born Mr De Zoysa is a qualified yoga instructor and runs sessions at Crystal Palace Market  as well as car boot sales in Croydon.

The bike sessions began at St James the Great where the De Zoysa children attended school when younger, and all cycled to the Windsor Road site accompanied by Mrs De Zoysa riding an adult tricycle given to her by Cycling for All a Croydon project that encourages and enables people of all abilities to learn how to ride.

Mr De Zoysa also ran cycling lessons at Winterbourne School and Selhurst Park  and explained to a local newspaper: “We hope to encourage parents to cycle with their kids and for the children to have good road knowledge so when they are older, we see them cycling on the road with a good appreciation of other road users.”

The popular rugby loving Sergeant who was just months away from retiring after a 30 year career in the police was about to search the handcuffed suspect with a metal detector in a Covid screening cell when the suspect produced a revolver that he had stuffed down his trousers.

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Police had arrested the 23-year-old in the early hours of Friday walking on the London Road in the direction of Streatham on suspicion of possessing ammunition and Class B drugs with intent to supply. Cannabis resin is understood to have been found on his person. 

Police have also been searching outside the five storey tower block Anderson Heights, Norbury near to where the suspect was arrested.

The Sun reported that Sergeant Ratana was airlifted to hospital after desperate medics performed open heart surgery on him in the custody centre but later died.

The paper has also claimed emergency services managed to revive the suspect, who it said has autism, after he died in hospital.

 

Picture of the Louis De Zoyza from FACEBOOK