Clive Goodman received three royal phone directories from fellow journalists, he told the phone hacking trial today.

Mr Goodman, the News of the World's former royal editor, said that one of the sources for which he arranged cash payments was a freelancer, while the other was a newspaper executive.

In emails to the NoW's management in 2005 and 2006, Mr Goodman said that the payments to his contacts must be made in cash because otherwise the individuals - which he said at the time included "two in uniform - could be jailed.

That led to him being charged with two counts of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office.

However, giving evidence at the hacking trial for the second day, Mr Goodman said he thought one of the sources, "Anderson", was a freelancer - while "Farrish" was a newspaper executive, involved in production rather than a reporter.

He told the Old Bailey that they were not their real names, saying that he had made them up by choosing surnames and address randomly from residential phone books.

Mr Goodman said he occasionally used the names interchangeably and sometimes used them to make payments to other sources.

Explaining how he had first been in contact with the sources, Mr Goodman said both Farrish and Anderson had initially phones him with tip offs.

The information coming from them often seemed to be second or third hand, he told the jury.

On Anderson, whom Mr Goodman paid between 2 January 2001 and 21 April 2006, Mr Goodman said: "I met him in parks or cafes or bars around Fleet Street."

On Farrish, whom he paid between 13 February 2002 and 28 March 2006, Mr Goodman said: "He wasn't there [the Royal Household] himself."

Asked about royal phone directories, Mr Goodman, said knew of at least two other journalists who had them: the Daily Mail's Richard Kay and the late Mirror journalist James Whittaker.

He told the court he had "dozens, scores" of contacts during his 20-year career at the paper, saying: "Some worked for the Royal Family, some were friends of the Royal Family, indeed some were members of the Royal Family themselves."

But he complained there were sometimes delays of months in processing cash payments, adding: "It was unpredictable."

Mr Goodman, who in 2006 admitted conspiring to hack the phones of royal aides, and his then editor, Andy Coulson, deny two counts of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office. The case continues.