The prosecutor who lost the case to keep Man Haron Monis behind bars on an accessory to murder charge overlooked the Lindt Cafe gunman’s release on bail on earlier offences, the inquest into the Sydney Siege has heard.

The public prosecutor, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, admitted he missed the fact Monis was on bail for sending offensive letters when he applied for bail in 2013 on a charge of being an accessory to his ex-wife’s murder.

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“It is the case that I didn’t focus my mind on that particular issue,” the prosecutor told the inquest.

“That means you missed it?” asked Murugan Thangaraj, counsel assisting the family of siege victim Katrina Dawson.

“Oh, yes,” he replied.

The prosecutor has also told the inquest he failed to view a key piece of evidence which Monis’s lawyer relied on to argue the case for his client’s release on bail.

“To my mind I had addressed those areas to the highest I could,” the prosecutor said.

“Did it occur to you to ask the police their views on [this] interview?” Mr Thangaraj asked.

“I don’t recall,” he responded.

Monis was on bail for the accessory to murder charge and a string of sexual assaults when he staged his attack on the Lindt Cafe last December.