A Sun reporter paid a Sussex Police sergeant £500 for tip-offs about a boy bitten by a fox in a school playground and one of the city’s most notorious killers, a court has heard.

Journalist Vince Soodin is accused of paying a corrupt police officer to be his "stooge" amid a culture of "collective short-sightedness" at the newspaper.

The 39-year-old from Greenwich in London is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of giving Sussex Police sergeant James Bowes £500 in exchange for story tips.

The court heard Bowes emailed the Sun about three-year-old boy Jake Jermy being bitten by a fox at a party held at the Dorothy Stringer playgroup in Brighton in June 2010.

Soodin is also accused of paying for information about serial killer Peter Tobin the following month as officers searched a number of homes connected to the serial sex killer in the city.

How the confidential material came into Soodin's hands only emerged in 2012, prosecutor Peter Wright QC said.

Mr Wright told jurors at court yesterday: "Police Sergeant Bowes was prepared to act as Vince Soodin's stooge in return for cash.

"It was in short therefore a corrupt arrangement in which, for what turned out to be just £500, Sgt Bowes and Vince Soodin were prepared between them to betray the public trust in the office of police sergeant."

Soodin denies the charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office.

Jurors were told that Bowes, 31 from Steyning, was not in the dock because he had already pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office.

The trial continues.