Nine men denied conspiring to rob a £200 million diamond exhibition at the Millennium Dome when they made a brief appearance at the Old Bailey yesterday.

They are all charged with conspiring together and with unknown others between July 7, 1999, and November 8, 2000, to rob the De Beers Millennium Diamond Exhibition.

All but two were remanded in custody until the next pre-trial hearing due on June 8.

The accused are: skipper Kevin Meredith, 34, of Auckland Drive, Brighton; motor trader James Wenham, 58, of Collier Street; mechanic Lee Wenham, 32, of Ploughmans Way, Gillingham; and Wayne Taylor, 35, of Tonbridge, all in Kent; Aldo Ciarrocchi, 31, of Balaclava Road, Bermondsey; and William Cockran, 48, of Catford, south-east London; and Terence Millman, 56, Robert Adams, 57, and Raymond Betson, 39, all of no fixed address.

Their trial was fixed provisionally for November 5.