Eton pupils sold scandalous stories to the Sun in the bar of a pub, court told Eton College pupils were regularly paid to leak scandals from inside the prestigious school to the Sun from the back room of a local pub, a court has heard. Jamie Pyatt, 51, the newspaper's Thames Valley district reporter, said a succession of sixth form pupils sold him tales of the latest scandal from the private boarding school. He told Kingston crown court on Thursday he maintained "excellent" contacts for years inside the £34,000-a-year school which is just outside Windsor. "There were a number of Eton boys that used to drink in a bar in Windsor, in a back bar," he said. They knew I was a Sun reporter, and if they had Eton college stories they would approach me - they were paid. He added that the pupils involved changed from year to year, passing along his contact details to the latest sixth form recruits. It was transient, basically the boys concerned would be in the sixth form and when they moved on they would pass my details to the new sixth formers to get in contact with Eton stories. Pyatt said he paid £1,000 for a 2002 scoop that a group of pupils at the school had drunkenly tried to climb into Windsor Castle, sparking a terrorist alert. "They had triggered the alarm at Windsor Castle, police reacted quite correctly, armed officers had tackled them," he said. It was dark, late at night, and there could have been a tragedy. They were given a ticking-off and sent back to Eton for no doubt an interview with the headmaster in the morning. But it was no doubt a public interest story. Pyatt is accused conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office by paying a police officer and Broadmoor healthcare assistant for stories published in the Sun. But Pyatt denied paying the policeman for the Eton story, saying the money went to pupils from the college who leaked it to him. He drew laughs from the court as he discussed his other contacts at Eton."I knew two headmasters during that period," he said. My wife was good friends with the bursar's wife, they worked together in nursing, and I got invited to cheese and wine parties where I had to make up a different occupation to avoid getting into trouble. I think I was an estate agent. Pyatt, who has worked for the Sun since 1987, has admitted paying the policeman and Broadmoor worker for 24 stories, but argues they were in the public interest and the public officials first approached him with information. He is in the dock with the Sun's former managing editor Graham Dudman, head of news Chris Pharo, deputy news editor Ben O'Driscoll, reporter John Troup, and picture editor John Edwards, who all face similar corruption charges. Pharo denies four counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. O'Driscoll and Dudman both deny three counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. Edwards and Pyatt deny two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. Troup denies one charge of misconduct in public office. All six defendants have been cleared of an overarching conspiracy to pay public officials, while Pharo was found not guilty of paying a Sandhurst soldier.