Lindt siege: Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione defends his leaving the scene before it ended

EXCLUSIVE: AndrewScipione let his mask slip at a church meeting over the weekend, telling the congregation any criticism of officers on duty during the Lindt Siege was “outrageous”.

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POLICE Commissioner Andrew Scipione has defended his decision to leave the Lindt Siege two hours before its bloody conclusion and blasted criticism of officers on duty during the terror attack as “outrageous”.

Usually tight-lipped on others’ views on how police dealt with gunman Man Monis’ Martin Place attack in 2014, the NSW commissioner broke his silence at a men-only Baptist Church meeting at the weekend.

“If we stayed on until five and then done another 24 hours, you can imagine what sort of shape we would have been in,” the Police Commissioner said of his decision to leave at midnight on December 15 after telling his head of counter-terrorism, Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn, to go home at 10pm.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione / Picture: Virginia Young

A Baptist, Mr Scipione said he would await the outcomes of the coroner before commenting on the siege, but then lashed out at those who attacked the police response.

“I have been very, very controlled, I have had to be, based on the advice from my legal counsel,” he said.

But he let the crowd know he was not happy with criticism made of police. “I think a whole lot of wrong has been done to a lot of people, but I’ll get a chance to talk about that as I go on,” he said.

Following pressure from the families of slain hostages Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson, Mr Scipione gave evidence at the inquest but has otherwise remained publicly silent about the handling of the siege.

He began his tirade when asked by a parishioner what the hardest part of the siege was. He also hit back at critics who said he was wrong to go to bed as hostages inside the cafe feared for their lives.

“Because I had to be back at 5am to get ready for the next day, because we believed that this might have gone on, my chief negotiator said ‘we think this is going to continue’,” he said.

Armed police at the scene on the night of the siege.

Mr Scipione said they believed the siege may have continued for days longer than it did.

In evidence to the inquest, Mr Scipione maintained he was hands-off during the siege, leaving its management to his commanders who believed gunman Monis had a bomb in his backpack.

I think a whole lot of wrong has been done to a lot of people, but I’ll get a chance to talk about that as I go on - POLICE COMMISSIONER ANDREW SCIPIONE

But UK counter-terrorism experts criticised police for not ordering the storming of the cafe until 2.13am on the siege’s second day after Mr Johnson was shot dead.

Lindt siege victims Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson.

Ms Dawson died when hit by fragments of police bullets.

Mr Scipione told attendees at the dinner at the Mortdale-Oatley Baptist Church that at the time police believed invading the building would have triggered an explosive device inside the cafe. “To downplay that, to insult them to the extent that we have seen publicly has been outrageous,” he said.

He said that the policemen believed they would certainly die, after blast modelling conducted on the site showed that it would decimate everybody in the immediate vicinity.

Following pressure from the families of slain hostages Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson, Mr Scipione gave evidence at the inquest but has otherwise remained publicly silent about the handling of the siege.