LIVE: Senior police officer on night of Manchester Arena attack was conflicted about breaking policy
Dale Sexton, then an Inspector, ran the initial response on the night
GMP Chief Inspector Dale Sexton - giving evidence to the Manchester Arena inquiry. (Image: Arena Inquiry)
A senior police officer who held a key command role on the night of the Manchester Arena bombing will contine giving evidence to the public inquiry into the atrocity.
Dale Sexton, then an Inspector, ran the initial response on the night, will give a second day of evidence today.
During yesterday s evidence, the officer said he knew he was going against national guidance and policy by not telling other emergency services he had declared Operation Plato, the operation invoked when there is suspected to be a continuing marauding terror attack.
Rachel Townsend reports from the Manchester Arena bombing inquiry.
The police officer in charge in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing did not tell other emergency services the response to a terror attack, Operation Plato, had been declared.
Chief Inspector Dale Sexton then an Inspector, was the force duty officer in the Greater Manchester control room.
He broke national guidelines by keeping the Operation Plato decision secret and not informing the ambulance or fire service, as rules meant the area would be declared a hot zone .
This meant the site would have to be cleared, leaving the injured left untreated, while any armed terrorist or active gunman was dealt with.
LIVE: Police officer tells Manchester Arena inquiry he knew he was going against national guidance and policy to save lives
Dale Sexton, then an Inspector, was Greater Manchester Police s Force Duty Officer, on the night of the bombing
The inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing continues (Image: Joel Goodman)
A police officer who held a key command role at the time of the Manchester Arena bombing is giving evidence today at the public inquiry into the atrocity.
Dale Sexton, then an Inspector, ran the initial response on the night.
He was Greater Manchester Police s Force Duty Officer, FDO, based in the Operational Control Room, OCR.
Police chief admits going against national guidance and policy to save lives after Manchester Arena bombing
Dale Sexton, in charge of the initial GMP response, said he didn t tell the other emergency services he had declared Operation Plato because he knew it would mean responders being withdrawn
Updated
The Arena attack claimed 22 lives (Image: Sean Hansford Manchester Evening)
A police chief said he deliberately went against policy and national guidelines to save lives on the night of the Manchester Arena bombing.
Chief Inspector Dale Sexton, who was in charge of the initial Greater Manchester Police response to the terror attack in his role as Force Duty Officer (FDO), said he purposefully didn t tell the fire and ambulance services that he had declared a specific counter-terrorism response because he knew it would lead to the withdrawal of first responders from the blast zone and casualties wouldn t be treated.
BBC News
Published
image captionDale Sexton was in charge of Greater Manchester Police s immediate response to the bombing
A police chief told the public inquiry into the Manchester Arena attack he deliberately broke policy on the night of the 2017 bombing to save lives .
Ch Insp Dale Sexton from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) was the force duty officer in the control room.
He said he declared Operation Plato, a pre-arranged plan for a suspected marauding armed terrorist, within minutes of the bomb being detonated.
But he decided not to alert the fire and ambulance services. Calculated risk
He said he went against national guidelines by keeping the decision secret because he knew the rules meant the area would be declared a hot zone .