Jonathan Plummer: PCSO admits lying over Vile Degrader online alias

Jonathan Plummer, who was based in Wakefield as a PCSO, is on trial at Leeds Crown Court

A community support officer lied about using the online alias Vile Degrader out of "panic", a court has heard.

Jonathan Plummer, who denies charges involving child abuse images, told police the username was not his during interviews.

The 35-year-old told Leeds Crown Court he had lied out of embarrassment at the time.

He said he regretted the name, but insisted it referred to his interest in BDSM and was not linked to child abuse.

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Mr Plummer, who worked in Wakefield, had more than 2,100 images and 200 videos of child abuse on his personal phone, with some in the most serious category A, the court previously heard.

'Emotional shock'

Giving evidence, he told defence barrister Richard Canning he had no interest in child pornography, wasn't responsible for any images found on his phone and had no idea how they got there.

He said he had lied in police interview because he was "exhausted" at the time.

"If memory serves I was interviewed until eleven or twelve O'clock at night," he said.

"As you can probably appreciate the emotional shock is quite something."

He told the court he'd used an online tool to check if his personal information had been breached and found a password to a secure area on his phone had been leaked five times.

Louise Reevell, prosecuting, said images of abuse were being added to his phone between July 2017 and August 2018.

"Let's assume for a minute you were being hacked for a year - did anyone ever contact you about it or ask for a ransom, anything like that?," she asked.

Mr Plummer, who denies making and distributing an indecent image of a child, said no-one had contacted him.

He denies a further offence of possessing extreme pornography.

The court previously heard he worked in a neighbourhood policing team for West Yorkshire Police, as well as a being a Cyber Prevent Officer.

Prosecutors said he had accessed police files involving similar cases in order to avoid detection.

The trial continues.