Weapons including guns have been smuggled into police stations before and after Matt Ratana’s death, despite enhanced searching being recommended.
Two more guns have been smuggled into London custody centres since the tragic Met sergeant was killed by a concealed antique revolver.
This was despite the force being warned to step up their searches, with metal-detecting wands recommended to be fitted to all police vans 18 months before his murder.
In the last 33 months three firearms and an air gun have been sneaked into the buildings – with one even being found in a toilet U-bend.
A whistleblower from inside the police department for safety in custody – known as MO9 – told the Mirror that senior officers ignored a 2019 report telling them to improve their searches of suspects.
They said the level to which those in custody were frisked was ‘inadequate’ as they revealed ‘drugs and weapons have been found in cells and on prisoners post-search’.
Two more guns have been smuggled into London custody centres since tragic Met sergeant Matt Ratana (pictured) was killed by a concealed antique revolver
Metropolitan Police sergeant Matt Ratana was killed on September 25 2020 by Louis de Zoysa, 26, (pictured) who opened fire with an antique revolver at a Croydon custody suite in south London
Two more guns have been smuggled into London custody centres since the tragic Met sergeant was killed by a concealed antique revolver (pictured)
The whistleblower told the newspaper: ‘The Met hid the truth that they failed to act on… representations that would’ve saved Matt’s life.’
The force deny that concerns raised before the officer’s killing were ignored and say their search procedures have been stepped up since.
Metropolitan Police sergeant Matt Ratana was killed on September 25 2020 by Louis de Zoysa, 26, who opened fire with an antique revolver at a Croydon custody suite in south London.
De Zoysa, who is autistic, had earlier been arrested and searched but officers failed to find the gun the 26-year-old had in an underarm holster, despite discovering bullets in his pocket.
Pc Richard Davey, the officer who carried out the search along with Pc Samantha Still, told an inquest at Croydon town hall on Wednesday: ‘The weapon was there, I should have found it, if not the weapon, the holster.’
Dominic Adamson KC, representing Sgt Ratana’s partner Su Bushby, identified four occasions where Pc Davey ‘failed to do the job you were supposed to do’.
The lawyer asked: ‘If you had done your job properly Sergeant Ratana would still be alive, wouldn’t he?’
Pc Davey answered: ‘I don’t know.’
Metropolitan Police sergeant Matt Ratana (pictured) was killed on September 25 2020 by Louis de Zoysa, 26, who opened fire with an antique revolver at a Croydon custody suite in south London
De Zoysa, who is autistic, had earlier been arrested and searched but officers failed to find the gun the 26-year-old had in an underarm holster, despite discovering bullets in his pocket
De Zoysa later managed to move his handcuffed arms from behind his back to fire at Sgt Ratana
The officer agreed with Mr Adamson that an adequate search would have identified the gun.
Senior coroner Sarah Ormond-Walshe, concluding an inquest at Croydon Town Hall today into Sgt Ratana’s death, ruled it was an unlawful killing.
Sgt Ratana’s partner of five years, Su Bushby, told reporters she was ‘angry’ because his death ‘should have been avoided’.
Ms Bushby said: ‘I have heard evidence regarding how Metropolitan Police officers did not do their jobs properly in searching a man who was in possession of a significant amount of drugs and bullets.
‘If it wasn’t for a catalogue of serious failings, and if people had done their job properly, Matt would still be alive today.
‘The shoddy and inadequate search undertaken by the police officers was a neglect of their duty and left Matt vulnerable to murder.
‘The number of failures, the gravity of them and the impact of both the search failures and failures in the transportation of (Louis) de Zoysa to the police station, that have come out during the evidence in this inquest, has left me devastated.
‘It is my view that Matt has been let down by the Metropolitan Police.’
Sgt Ratana’s partner of five years, Su Bushby, told reporters she was ‘angry’ because his death ‘should have been avoided’. Pictured: Matt Ratana and son Luke
De Zoysa is serving a whole-life jail term for Sgt Ratana’s murder after a trial earlier this year, during which his legal team said he was suffering an autistic meltdown at the time of the shooting
Ms Bushby said there ‘must be’ improvements to searches of suspects and security arrangements in police stations, adding: ‘I do not want Matt’s death to be in vain.’
In the custody van, de Zoysa was seen in footage wriggling and jerking, which according to expert evidence was him repositioning the firearm to his hands.
After arriving at Croydon’s Windmill Road custody centre, de Zoysa was allowed to walk without an officer gripping his arm, or handcuffs.
De Zoysa later managed to move his handcuffed arms from behind his back to fire at Sgt Ratana.
The New Zealand-born officer, 54, who had served in the Met Police for almost 30 years and was three months from retirement, was hit in the chest by the first of three shots discharged by de Zoysa within three seconds.
A second bullet struck him in the thigh before de Zoysa was wrestled to the ground by other officers, as a third round hit the cell wall.
Former tax office data analyst de Zoysa, who was living in a flat on a farm in Banstead, Surrey, discharged a fourth shot while on the cell floor, hitting an artery in his own neck and causing him brain damage.
He is serving a whole-life jail term for Sgt Ratana’s murder after a trial earlier this year, during which his legal team said he was suffering an autistic meltdown at the time of the shooting.
A Met spokesperson said: ‘We do not accept that concerns raised pre Matt’s murder… were ignored.
‘In 2019 we introduced a four-stage search and early intervention process for detainees arriving in custody.
‘This policy was enhanced after the death of PS Ratana. We began a roll-out of 4,300 hand-held search wands for use by officers.’