What estimate would you be basing your break plan on
Spitoon ??
The one from the ACC .... too late, that means the aircraft is about 15 minutes away anyway so the plan you worked out nearly 2 hours ago is now buggered, you're almost out of duty time.
The DEP message (if you got one) and the FPL elapsed time .... oooops, all those direct routeings over Europe mean the aircraft is going to pitch up 10 minutes earlier than the time you'd planned to return from your break. Just 2 possibilities which could result in an aircraft having to wait for a controller to be legal. Any ATCO could think of many more scenarios.
There is also an assumption that the ATCO wasn't doing anything for the time between starting shift and taking the break, that somehow this break could have been shifted to suit. Or maybe, just maybe, he was controlling aircraft for most of this time and had no leeway to move the break too much, if at all ??
ATCOs, as a breed, like an easy life. They don't like filling in forms or having to explain to someone higher up what they did and why. Especially if there is fallout from airlines and the public. So why would this ATCO open up the floodgates on themselves unless they were given no choice and legally bound to do something ? I reckon they did the right thing and covered their own back ahead of anyone elses. They were there, it is their licence, and they know the facts upon which their decision was based. Had the aircraft situation then changed (emergency, short of fuel, etc), then I have no doubt at all that professional judgement would have been exercised and SRATCOH 'varied' to provide the best service to the aircraft in those circumstances.