A former police officer said he amended accounts of the Hillsborough tragedy "in accordance with legal advice", a court was told.
Alan Foster was involved in changes to officer recollections of the tragic FA Cup semi-final before they were submitted to an inquiry into the disaster.
He has since told investigators he believed his actions were "lawful, proper and above board".
Foster, an ex-detective chief inspector with South Yorkshire Police, is on trial alongside former Chief Superintendent Donald Denton and Peter Metcalf, a solicitor who worked with the force after the tragedy.
All three deny two counts of perverting the course of justice.
Prosecutors have accused them of amending dozens of officer witness accounts to "mask the failings" of South Yorkshire Police at the tie between Liverpoool and Nottingham Forest in Sheffield.
The accounts were being collected by West Midlands Police ahead of the Taylor Inquiry into the tragedy, which unfolded at the Leppings Lane end allocated to Liverpool supporters. Ninety six men, women and children died as a result.
Jurors were today taken through statements Foster had previously given to the Independent Office for Police Conduct during the watchdog's investigation into the aftermath of the disaster.
The 74-year-old told interviewers: "Any amendments that I made to statements were in accordance with legal advice."
He said he had been tasked with removing hearsay, emotion and speculation from accounts and believed the work he did was "lawful".
Foster said his task was carried out "openly", under "huge pressure" and that he assessed accounts "objectively and fairly".
He said on no occasion did he place pressure on an officer to agree to account changes, nor did he ever ask someone else to assert such pressure on his behalf.
Foster added all original accounts were retained by police.
He said that, throughout his career, he had tried to act with "integrity" and found it "insulting" his record was being challenged.
Foster, Denton, 83, and Metcalf, 71, each deny doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice.
Their trial, presided over by judge Mr Justice William Davis, follows an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct and is scheduled to last up to 16 weeks.
It is being held in a converted court at the Lowry theatre in Salford.
Proceeding
