London Metropolitan Police are being sued over failures which led to the fatal shooting of a New Zealand born police officer.
Sergeant Matiu (Matt) Ratana, 54, was murdered in September 2020. His death occurred after officers failed to find a gun which was concealed on arrested man Louis De Zoysa, according to the BBC.
De Zoysa managed to hide an antique revolver in an underarm holster after his arrest.
Ratana served in the London Met Police for almost 30 years and was three months out from retiring. He was hit by the first of three shots in the chest by De Zoysa, which were discharged in three seconds.
London Metropolitan police confirmed to 1News: "We have received a civil claim in relation to the murder of Matt Ratana and remain in dialogue with the claimant's legal representative."
"We will not be discussing further while the claim remains ongoing."
In November, a conclusion into the inquest of the unlawful killing was held. At the inquest, senior coroner Sarah Ormond-Walshe noted a "failure to carry out a safe, thorough and systematic search" before Ratana's death.
Ratana's partner Su Bushby said at the time: "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 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.
"Matt gave so much to the Metropolitan Police and its failures to protect him on that night are now clear for all to see.
"The search should have been thorough, safe and systematic for it to be effective — it was none of those things.
"If it was an effective search, the gun would have been found on De Zoysa and Matt would be alive now."
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