LONDON -- A jury has been given an insight into the inner workings of tabloid phone hacking at the trial of two former editors of Rupert Murdoch's defunct News of the World.

Former editors Rebekah Brooks and Andrew Coulson are on trial, along with six others, on a range of charges related to hacking and bribery.

Prosecutors on Thursday played a recording of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire "blagging" -- seeking information about a mobile phone passcode from a service provider using a false name.

Prosecution lawyer Andrew Edis said Mulcaire made the recording himself.

The jury was also shown emails from Mulcaire to then-News of the World news editor Ian Edmondson containing mobile phone numbers and details of voicemail inboxes for politician and royals. Edis said on Wednesday that Mulcaire was paid about 100,000 pounds a year at the time.

Edis said there are few records of what Mulcaire was paid to do by the newspaper, but that senior editors must have known of his illicit activity.

"The question is, did nobody ever ask, 'What are we paying this chap for?"' he said.

"Somebody must have decided that what he was doing was worth an awful lot of money. Who was that?"

The hacking trial is expected to last roughly six months. The defendants have all denied the charges against them.