Police duty officer tells Arena attack inquiry he went against guidelines 'to save lives'
The inquiry heard radio messages from "swamped" officer on the night of the bombing
Audio recording has been played to a public inquiry of the "swamped'' senior police officer in command on the night of the Manchester Arena bombing.
Radio messages coming in from police officers at the scene speak of confirmed fatalities, mass casualties, reports of a suicide bomber and gunshots being fired.
Inspector Dale Sexton was the force duty officer (FDO), the most senior officer on duty and in command when Salman Abedi detonated his rucksack bomb in the City Room, or foyer of the Arena.
Abedi murdered 22 bystanders and injured hundreds more as they left an Ariana Grande concert at 10.31pm on May 22 2017.
Mr Sexton can be heard receiving the first reports and giving orders after he set his dictaphone recording 15 minutes after the bomb had gone off to log and record his strategic decisions at the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) control room.
Now promoted to chief inspector, Mr Sexton declared Operation Plato, a pre-arranged plan when it is suspected a marauding armed terrorist may be on the loose, following reports of gunshots and casualties with gunshot-type injuries.
He broke national guidelines by keeping the Operation Plato decision secret and not informing the ambulance or fire service, as the rules meant the area would be declared a "hot zone''.
This meant the area would have to be cleared, leaving the injured left untreated, while any armed terrorist or active gunman was dealt with.
Mr Sexton told the inquiry sitting in Manchester:
"I couldn't stop firearms officers telling partner agencies.
"But what I didn't want to do was for any of my decisions to have a direct impact on potential survivability of injured people at the scene, and I know that it was going against national guidance and I knew it was going against policy, I knew it could come back to bite me big style.''
With armed officers on scene to do an "emergency search'' and some paramedics treating the injured, Mr Sexton said he took a "calculated risk'' not to inform the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) or Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS).
He added:
"I was certainly conflicted once I declared Operation Plato, knowing what the potential outcome was in relation to ongoing treatment of casualties.
"It was one of the hardest decisions I've made in the 26 years of my career at that point.
"It was really difficult.
"It was a calculated risk based on experience and information coming in to me, but it certainly was not an easy decision.
"I could not provide a 100% definite guarantee but I believed I could provide a very good level of protection around those left at the scene.''
Mr Sexton said he did not want firefighters to attend but more paramedics to deal with the injured as he believed there may still be an ongoing threat.
But even after it became clear there was no second terrorist, confusion meant GMFRS commanders were left "outside of the loop'' and firefighters, some who heard the bomb go off, and trained in first-aid and terror scenarios with specialist equipment, did not get permission to go to the scene.
Fire crews only arrived on scene two hours and six minutes after the bomb exploded.