The judge in the Millennium Dome diamond raid trial, in which a Brighton man is accused, has started his summing up.

Old Bailey jurors were warned to put the question of sentences out of their minds when deciding their verdict.

Judge Micheal Coombe said that four of the five defendants admitted they had conspired to steal £200 million worth of diamonds from the De Beers exhibition vault at the Dome - but they denied the more serious charge of robbery.

The prosecution has alleged that that was because they were trying to cut their losses having been arrested at the scene.

The four had said they believed they could accomplish taking the diamonds without any interference and it was straightforward theft. They said they would not have gone into robbery because the penalties were too high.

"It would be quite wrong for you to consider sentences which I will have to deal with in the case of the first four defendants," said Judge Coombe as he started his summing up of the case.

He said in the case of the four the issue was very simple - whether they were party to a conspiracy to steal or a conspiracy to rob.

Aldo Ciarrocchi, 32, of Balaclava Road, Bermondsey, south-east London, Raymond Betson, 40, of Chatham, Kent, William Cockran, 49, from Catford, south-east London and Robert Adams, 57 of no fixed address all deny conspiracy to rob.

But they have admitted the lesser charge of conspiring to steal.

A fifth man Kevin Meredith, 34 of Aucklands Drive, Brighton, East Sussex denies both conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to steal.

Judge Coombe said Meredith had said what he did was a result of duress and he had not known what it was all about.

The prosecution has alleged that the gang intended to snatch the stones by smashing their way in on a earth mover and escape across the river Thames by a speed boat skippered by Meredith.