Three men will stand trial after two diggers were stolen in Claygate earlier this year.

Police were called to an address off Oaken Lane on April 18 after a resident noticed two diggers had been stolen from a garden.

A van containing the diggers was found later that day in Leatherhead.

Neil Offen, 36, of Coverts Road, Claygate, Carl Richardson, 33, of Gateway, Weybridge, and John Wenman, 20, of Rectory Lane, Farnham, all pleaded not guilty to four charges relating to the stealing of the diggers at Guildford Crown Court on Wednesday, October 23.

The charges against the three men are theft of a conveyance other than a motor vehicle or pedal cycle, destroying and or damaging property of an unknown value and two charges of handling stolen goods, relating to a set of number plates and a digger.

A fourth man, Matthew Eastwood, 19, of Ranmore Road, Dorking, pleaded guilty to all four charges and is expected to be sentenced following the trial of the three other men.

The three defendants who pleaded not guilty will stand trial at Guildford Crown Court on March 10, 2014.