Neil Wallis in an interview with PRCA (Credit: YouTube, PRCATV)

The phone-hacking trial of Neil Wallis started yesterday in London, the Associated Press reported.

Wallis was the deputy editor of News of the World, which closed in July 2011.

Wallis has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to phone hacking.

UK prosecutor Julian Christopher said “it is inconceivable” that Wallis didn’t know about the hacking, the AP reported.

“It was not suggested that Wallis himself carried out the hacking, ‘but rather, the prosecution alleges, that he knew it was being done and agreed that it should be done,'” the Guardian reported.

Wallis was charged with hacking last July.

For more on the phone-hacking scandal, read iMediaEthics’ previous coverage.