THREE men who are accused of a £1 million series of safe raids on commercial premises have appeared before a judge.

Jesse Gregory, 49, David Royles, 53, and 24-year-old Joseph Butler are accused of conspiracy to burgle between the end of 2013 and January 21 this year.

During the 13-month period it is alleged the men, who were appearing by video link from Bullingdon prison, targeted 118 properties, stealing safes and their contents.

No charges were formally put to Gregory, of Railway Cottages, Brinkworth, Royles, of Sandhurst Lane, and Joseph Butler, of The Willows, both Gloucester.

Recorder David Bartlett, at Swindon Crown Court, adjourned the case to Friday, September 11, and remanded the men in custody until then.

Earlier the court was told that because of the length of the expected trial the case may be transferred to either Winchester or Bristol.

It is alleged the men broke into isolated properties, such as golf clubs or garden centres, and either broke into the safe, or took it and emptied it later.

On some occasions it is said they would attach straps to a tow bar of a vehicle and tow it off its mountings to take somewhere they could be prised open.

There were also said to have been incidents where the suspects took out whole walls to get to a safe, causing massive amounts of damage.