A jury has been told a man accused of murdering a Met Police sergeant at Croydon police station deliberately shot him “once to the chest at very close range”.

It caused a fatal injury to the left lung and heart of Sergeant Matt Ratana.

Northampton Crown Court heard Louis de Zoysa, 25, had been arrested and searched on 25 September 2020 and was found with cannabis and seven rounds of ammunition.

But officers did not discover that he was carrying a loaded revolver in a holster.

The jury was told “the gun and holster were probably concealed under one of his armpits” and that he “kept the gun hidden”.

He was taken to Croydon police station after his arrest and put in a holding room.

The court heard he was still handcuffed when “he was able to point the gun at Sergeant Ratana”.

The prosecution say three further shots were fired during a struggle with officers and that the second shot was another deliberate shot at Sergeant Ratana.

The fourth one caused severe and life-threatening injury to de Zoysa.

The court has already heard he suffered brain damage – which is why he uses a wheelchair and has “real problems with his communication”.

It means De Zoysa will communicate by writing on a whiteboard and requires an intermediary in the dock to help him follow the trial.

The trial has also heard that he allegedly bought the gun – an antique revolver – on the internet and made the ammunition at the farm where he lived in Surrey.

De Zoysa denies murder. The trial continues.

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