A SERIAL burglar dumped a holdall with mobile phones, passports and cash stolen from King's College, Taunton, at a builder's merchant yard, a court has heard.

Jon Tutte-Melluish was caught on CCTV and by DNA after the bag was found on the doorstep of Travis Perkins, in East Reach, four hours after the raid.

He denied the burglary, claiming he had been given the bag by drug dealers who had been involved with the burglary at the school.

Tutte-Melluish, 38, of Fleming Way, Exeter, admitted handling stolen goods when he appeared at Exeter Crown Court.

His not guilty plea to the burglary at the school was accepted after he pleaded guilty to other offences.

He also admitted a domestic burglary in Exeter and using a stolen bank card to take £250 out of a cashpoint. He was jailed for a total of 16 months by Judge David Evans.

The judge said he accepted Tutte-Melluish had not carried out the burglary and his intention in taking possession of the stolen goods appeared to have been to sell them on.

Nigel Wraith, prosecuting, said the burglary at King's took place in the early hours of September 23 last year.

He said:"The burglary was in relation to a safe which was ripped off a wall within the school. It contained 11 mobile phones, passports and cash in excess of £1,000.

"The next morning police were called to Travis Perkins builders' merchants, where a holdall had been dropped under the gate. Cash, mobiles and passports linked to the burglary were in the bag.

"The holdall was forensically examined and Tutte-Melluish was linked to it. CCTV was examined and showed him arriving outside the premises. He refused to be interviewed but has pleaded guilty to handling."

Harry Ahuja, defending, said the handling offence happened when Tutte-Melluish was homeless and committing other crimes for which he has since served a jail sentence.

He said he had been given the bag by drug dealers and told to sell its contents but instead left it on the doorstep at Travis Perkins so it would be found.

He said Tutte-Melluish's partner is pregnant and this has given him the motivation to tackle his drink and drug problems.

The Exeter offences happened in September this year when Tutte-Melluish stole jewellery, cash and bank cards that had belonged to a grieving son's mother and tried to sell them for beer money at Wonford Inn, where he was thrown out.