Sgt Matt Ratana has been awarded the BBC’s South East Unsung Hero Award.
Sgt Ratana was shot and killed on 25th September 2020 as he went to check on the welfare of a prisoner.
Matt was a hugely popular officer who had served his community for almost 30 years before he was killed.
He was due to retire towards the end of 2020 and had been working in the Croydon Custody Suite when he was shot.
A 23-year-old man has been charged with his murder and is currently awaiting trial.
Matt was a huge rugby fan and dedicated much of his spare time to helping up-and-coming rugby players excel themselves in the sport.
Since his tragic death, sports personalities from around the world have voiced their support of the fallen officer and the high morals which he dedicated his life to protect.
Sgt Ratana received thousands of nominations for this years BBC ‘Sports Personality of the Year’ award.
A post shared on the ‘Matt Ratana Rugby Foundation’ Facebook page on 23rd November has confirmed that Matt has won the prestigious BBC South East Unsung Hero Award.
The post said:
“it has been announced that Matt Ratana has been given the BBC SOUTH EAST UNSUNG HERO’ Award!
“Now it’s onto the finals aired live on 13 December”.
To learn more about the Matt Ratana Rugby Foundation, click here.
Before you go...
We need your help. As former emergency services & armed forces personnel, we pride ourselves on bringing you important, fast-moving and breaking news stories & videos which are free from the negative bias which is often directed at the emergency services & NHS by some sections of the mainstream media.
One of the reasons we started 'Emergency Services News' back in 2018 was because we became tired of reading badly informed stories about the emergency services & NHS which seemed only ever to highlight negative aspects of the job.
We want to be the unheard voice of the remarkable men and women who serve in the emergency services, NHS and armed forces. And with around 500k page views each month, we are getting there!
As income from ads, the mainstay source of income for most publishers, continues to decline; we need the help of you, our readers.
You can support emergency services news from as little as £1. It only takes a minute. Every contribution, however big or small, is vital for our future.
Please help us to continue to highlight the life-saving work of the emergency services, NHS and armed forces by becoming a supporter.
