Four indicate not guilty pleas over shooting of black equal rights activist Sasha Johnson

One 25-year-old, one 19-year-old and two 18-year-olds are charged with conspiracy to murder

Sasha Johnson was shot in the head last month (PA)

Four men have indicated not guilty pleas over the shooting of Sasha Johnson, a black equal rights campaigner, in London last month.

Ms Johnson was left in critical condition after being shot in the head during a 30th birthday party at a house in Peckham.

Four men - 25-year-old Prince Dixon, 19-year-old Troy Reid, 18-year-old Cameron Deriggs and 18-year-old Devonte Brown - have all been charged with conspiracy to murder.

On Friday, their lawyers indicated the men would deny the charge against them.

Formal pleas were not entered.

The defendents appeared before Judge Mark Lucraft QC at the Old Bailey by video link by Belmarsh jail on Friday.

Mr Reid and Mr Brown, both from Southwark, Mr Dixon, from Gravesend in Kent, and Mr Deriggs, from Lewisham, spoke only to confirm their names during the hearing.

The judge, who is Recorder of London, suggested a date for a six-week trial would be fixed at the next hearing. He said that the court would be actively seeking to get the earliest possible trial date.

He also indicated the case would be heard either by one of the two most senior Old Bailey judges or a High Court judge.

The defendants were remanded into custody.

Ms Johnson, a founding member of the Taking The Iniative Party and a prominent figure in the Black Lives Matter protests last summer, was shot during a silent disco in the garden of a house in south London last month.

The incident took place on Consort Road in Peckham just before 3am on 23 May.

Police have said previously they do not believe mother-of-two Ms Johnson was the intended victim of the shooting.

Additional reporting by Press Association