A Neighbourhood Policing Team officer with hundreds of indecent images of children on his phone said that it could have been hacked or the SIM card cloned, a jury heard today.

Jonathan Plummer, a Police Community Support Officer with West Yorkshire Police, is on trial at Leeds Crown Court charged with making and distributing indecent images of children and possession of extreme pornographic pictures.

Searches in the phone dictionary were indicative of an interest in child abuse, rape and bestiality, with “paedo mum” typed in 34 times, and “rape, raping and raped” repeatedly typed, it is alleged.

Plummer, 35, who worked in the Wakefield area as part of the Neighbourhood Policing Team and as a Cyber Prevent Officer, is said to have fantasised about rape and been interested in BDSM.

He denies seven offences, including one allegation of distributing an indecent image of a child at Category A; three charges of making an indecent photo of a child; one offence of possession of prohibited images of a child (cartoons); and two charges of possession of an extreme pornographic image.

Prosecutor Louise Reevell said that indecent images of children at Category A, B and C, were found on Plummer’s personal Samsung phone.

After his arrest on August 14, 2018, investigators found 339 still and 133 movies at Category A; 258 stills and 25 movies at Category B; and 1,256 still and 42 movies at Category C on his phone, the jury was told.

There was also a “snuff movie” showing a naked and bound woman being stabbed with a sword, and videos of a woman with a collar and shackles, a woman with a rope round her neck, and a naked woman gagged and tied up.

There were also pictures on the phone of cannabis plants seized by West Yorkshire Police and photos of a power point presentation showing offenders, it was said.

Plummer said in his police interview that a private web browser could have made his computers and his phone an “exit node” by which the indecent images had appeared on the phone without his knowledge.

He also raised the possibility that his phone had been hacked.

Expert prosecution evidence revealed that the devices were not in “exit node,” the jury heard today.

Forensic tools to search for viruses were up to date on the phone. All the files were scanned and no malicious software was found, it was said.

The cloning of the SIM card had also been looked at but the expert said it wasn’t possible for two phones to be in use at the same time with the same card, the network wouldn’t allow it.

Plummer told the police he didn’t use the alias “Vile Degrader” and knew nothing about it.

The jury heard that his two computers had no indecent images on them but there was material showing that he had used that name.

The trial continues.