An immigration detention officer who claimed he had sold information to The Sun for the benefit of foreign detainees called one a "scummy Afghan" and said he hoped another was "having a good time in Somalia", a court heard yesterday.Mark Blake, 42, who received thousands of pounds from News International for stories about Colnbrook Immigration Detention Centre, told an Old Bailey jury that everything he did was in the "public's interest" and he was motivated not by money but by a desire to improve conditions for staff and inmates. He accused Serco, the private company running the centre of giving Muslim detainees food containing pork during Ramadan, covering up instances of male rape and allowing inmates to "groom children" over the internet. However he admitted that he had never passed any of these allegations to the newspaper claiming that he feared for his safety if he done so.He also agreed he had called one inmate a “scummy Afghan” in a police interview after his arrest, and that on the witness stand he had had said he hoped that a former detainee was now "having a good time in Somalia".Blake is standing trial at London's Old Bailey alongside three journalists from The Sun and one from the Daily Mirror over charges relating to allegedly corrupt payments to public officials, which they all deny. The jury were shown the articles from The Sun which were based on Blake's information including stories about "foreign criminals" having Christmas parties and access to games consoles, and getting special diets and massages. The former immigration officer said he did not regard himself as "corrupt" as the money he was paid was from The Sun and not "public money". He agreed he had destroyed the receipts from the paper so no-one would have found out he was the source of the leaks, but said this was to stop his employer finding out as there was a culture of "backstabbing" at Colnbrook.In a serious of sharp exchanges prosecution barrister Stuart Biggs suggested to the defendant that he was "making it all up" and his only reason for leaking information to the newspapers was to help with the serious financial problems he had encountered after Blake's wife had left the family home. The accused agreed that the money was welcome but said he believed that some of the Serco management at the centre must have known he was the source of the stories in the paper, saying "they knew it was me leaking information from Colnbrook, maybe the directors wanted me to do it?".Blake then told the jury "I'm a caring person, I'm sure you can see, I worry about people's feelings. I'm the sort of person who would talk to anyone" adding "it kills me that I cannot go up and talk to the jury outside and say 'oh you've changed your hair'". He said that while "the money was lovely" it was not his primary motivation and he would have supplied the information he did "even if he was not paid for it".The prosecution also challenged Blake's testimony that a 2009 massage session for inmates had degenerated so much that staff were called it "50 Shades of Grey day" pointing out that the book of that name had not been released until 2011. Judge Marks also questioned the assertion that some detainees in Colnbrook were leaving the centre with £25,000 in cash as they were only given £1 per day in cash to buy goods from the inmates’ store. Blake however insisted his testimony was truthful.Blake was also asked why he contacted The Sun and said that although he read the Daily Mail he thought "The Sun is the newspaper the ordinary bloke reads". He continued "The Sun newspaper has a way of reporting we all know and we all love"; and said he did not take his information to the Daily Mail as he did not think they would report it properly. "Not because you were paid?" the prosecutor suggested. “All publications pay" the defendant replied, noting that he had once written an article for a fishing magazine and received a sum of money for it.The trial continues.