The trial of three people accused of producing £1m worth of bootleg music CDs and cassettes is expected to get under way tomorrow.

Alison Baldwin, Mark Jenkins and Stephen Coombes, who face charges of counterfeiting, appeared at Oxford Crown Court yesterday in proceedings brought by Oxfordshire Trading Standards.

They are said to have illegally copied songs by a series of top groups including the Rolling Stones Simply Red, and Led Zeppelin.

Stars such as Keith Richards, Mick Hucknall and Jimmy Page had been asked to give evidence in the trial.

It is claimed they lost money as a result of recordings allegedly made illegally by the three on trial.

But no recording stars will now be asked to enter the witness box.

The three accused of copying the CDs spent their first day in court listening to the prosecution and defence counsel discussing points of law in relation to the trial.

The case, before Judge Anthony King, is expected to last four to five weeks.

Baldwin, of Beaulieu Close, Banbury, Coombes, of Middle Lane, Shotteswell, near Banbury and Jenkins, of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, face trial after thousands of illegally-copied CDs and tapes were seized in a raid on a warehouse in Botley Road, Oxford, in 1995.

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