Hero police officer who led takedown of terrorist Man Monis in Lindt Café wins identity battle

The identity of a hero policeman who stormed the Lindt Café in Sydney ten years ago, killing terrorist Man Haron Monis, can finally be revealed following a court decision on Friday.

Known only as “Officer A” for the last decade, Ben Besant has been fighting to lift a suppression order and tell his story publicly to help deal with the PTSD that has up-ended his life.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Hero Lindt Cafe cop wins monumental legal battle over identity.

This year 7NEWS took on his legal battle and won. On Friday, Besant’s wish was fulfilled when the Coroner rubber stamped the landmark decision.

It means he has his identity back, and for the first time the public can see the face of the man who bravely led the assault on the Lindt Café and fired the shots that took Monis down.

“I’m never one to walk away from a fight, and I have been fighting for a long time to have my name returned to me,” the former NSW Police Tactical Operations Unit Officer told Seven’s Spotlight program.

Monis took eight staff members and 10 customers hostage inside the café on Martin Pl in Sydney’s CBD on the morning of December 15, 2014.

Police evacuated the area and surrounded the building as Monis terrorised his captives, claiming he was armed with a shotgun and had a bomb in his backpack.

At 2.13 the next morning, café manager, Tori Johnson, 34, was shot dead by Monis, prompting police officers to storm the café.

Barrister and Sydney mother-of-three, Katrina Dawson, 38, died when hit by fragments of police bullets.

Besant’s name was suppressed at the time for his own protection, but it meant that he could not tell anyone about the moment he came face-to-face with email and the emotional devastation he endured in the wake of the tragedy.

That decision aggravated the PTSD that has already cost him his career, marriage and home.

“It’s become such a big issue for me to be able to get my name back,” he said.

The 17-hour siege brought Sydney to a standstill and has been told from many viewpoints - but not Besant’s.

Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies were presenting The Morning Show from the Seven Network’s Martin Place studios as the incident unfolded.

“We were doing an interview, so we had our backs to the window and I saw one of our cameramen looking like something was happening behind us,” Emdur told 7NEWS.com.au previously.

He said the rest was a blur as they were suddenly forced to “talk to the pictures” as they “mutually felt uncomfortable drawing conclusions” without any confirmation.

“In the heat of the moment, there’s so much information and misinformation, so it falls on us.”

Speaking to Spotlight, Besant detailed the horrors of that night at Lindt, the 17 shots it took to bring self-declared Islamic State sympathiser Monis down and the stray shrapnel that tragically killed Dawson.

The builder said his mission now is to help other frontline responders deal with the effects of PTSD.

The court decision comes just two weeks before the anniversary of the Lindt Cafe siege.

Besant said having his identity back will help deal with what has become his most difficult day of the year.

You can see Chris Reason’s major exclusive with Ben Besant on an extended edition of Spotlight 7pm Sunday on Seven and Seven Plus.

Alongside the hour-long 7NEWS Spotlight special, a five-part podcast series Lindt Siege: The Untold Story reveals further insight into Besant’s life, charting his journey from boyhood to the Tactical Operations Unit, and that fateful night inside the Lindt Cafe.