A group of British plane spotters accused of spying in Greece, including a Horsham man, was today flying to Athens to stand trial.

The 12-strong group, who were arrested in November last year and held in prison for almost six weeks, said they were confident they could clear their names of the allegations.

The 11 men and one woman, who were arrested along with two Dutch men in their group, admit they were at the air base in Kalamata, southern Greece, where they were arrested but insist they are plane spotters and not spies.

They must now return to the town where their trial is due to begin on Wednesday. A verdict is expected within two to three days.

The Sussex man accused is BT technical officer Christopher Wilson, 46, of Erica Way, Horsham.

The others are: Paul Coppin, 57, and his wife Lesley, 51, of Mildenhall, Suffolk; Peter Norris, 52, of Uxbridge, west London; Antoni Adamiak, 37, of London; Andrew Jenkins, 32, from York; Michael Bussell, 47, of Swanland, near Hull; Michael Keane, 57, of Dartford, Kent; Steven Rush, 38, from Caterham, Surrey; Graham Arnold, 38, from Ottershaw, Surrey; Gary Fagan, 28, from Kegworth, Leicestershire; and Wayne Groves, 38, from Tamworth, Staffs.

They were originally charged with gathering information to pass on to an enemy of Greece, which carried a maximum prison sentence of 25 years.

But that was reduced to a single "misdemeanour" charge of espionage, which has a maximum penalty of five years, or a hefty fine.

The group have always denied taking photographs in restricted areas and say they only wrote down numbers from planes because of their interest in plane spotting.