‘Not about me’: NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb deflects pressure over her leadership amid double murder investigation

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has refused to apologise for a misplaced Taylor Swift joke where she labelled those criticising her handling of a high-profile double murder investigation “haters”.

In an exclusive interview on Sky News Australia, host Kieran Gilbert asked Commissioner Webb whether her comments were an “appropriate response”.

“This is not about me. This is really about Jesse and Luke’s family. My thoughts and condolences are with that family at the moment,” Ms Webb responded.

“They’ve flown in from interstate. If they’re watching this program, I want them to know that the efforts of the NSW Police Force are focused on finding their family members.”

Commissioner Karen Webb bizarrely channelled the American popstar to defend her handling of the alleged double murder of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies by one of the force’s serving officers.

The Commissioner has come under intense scrutiny over her leadership following the alleged killing of the couple by NSW Police constable Beau Lamarre-Condon.

Despite the accused killer handing himself into Bondi Police Station last Friday, Commissioner Webb did not issue a statement until Sunday and only fronted the media on Monday, leading to accusations she had failed to adequately address public interest in the case.

When asked about her actions during a breakfast interview on Tuesday, Commissioner Webb offered a bizarre defence, referencing the lyrics to Taylor Swift’s song ‘Shake It Off’ to brush off criticism.

“There will always be haters. Haters like to hate. Isn’t that what Taylor says?” she said.

Commissioner Webb’s comments followed a chaotic press conference on Monday where she appeared to clash with the media amid a crisis of leadership within the NSW Police Force, over a critical and historic investigation.

The case, which involves a NSW police officer who allegedly killed two men – Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, is the second case to occur involving one of the state’s officers under the Commissioner’s leadership.

Several of her comments during the press conference came back to bite later in the day, including her description of the alleged murder as a “crime of passion” – a quote she issued a grovelling apology for in her interview with Gilbert.

“I apologised for that this morning. It is a crime that’s based on a domestic situation – stalking, and ultimately murder – and a person has been charged with the murder of two people,” she said.

“What I wanted to distinguish and the point about raising it in that way was that it’s not a gay hate crime.

“This is a different sort of crime and they shouldn’t be conflated issues, so I do apologise if that was insensitive and it wasn’t intended to be, it was simply to distinguish the two issues that they are different issues, the motives are different.”