A PRISONER from Taunton has been cleared of arranging for drugs and phones to be thrown over the wall of a jail into the garden where he was working.

Mark Morris was in Channings Wood Prison, Newton Abbot, when a package was hurled over the fence.

He was on a break from raking leaves in the jail grounds and was accused of being involved because a garden supervisor thought he saw him pass the package to another inmate.

The other prisoner fled from the polytunnel but was detained by prison officers and the parcel containing cocaine, spice, the heroin substitute Subutex and three phones was seized.

Officers investigating the smuggling attempt linked Morris to it after a miniature mobile phone was found hidden in a compost bin in the polytunnel.

It had calls from the number of a woman who was a contact of Morris but had no known link with any other inmate.

The two calls were made just before and after the package was thrown over the wall. The first said: "Bulkie, do you want one or two parcels?" The second said: "Xxx, happy I hope. I was panicking. lol."

He was found not guilty at Exeter Crown Court after he denied being Bulkie or being involved in the smuggling and the jury was told his fingerprints were not on the package.

He claimed not have gone near the bin where the mini-phone was found.

The smuggling operation took place on December 6, 2016 when staff monitoring CCTV saw the package thrown over the wall.

Morris had been recalled to prison three months earlier to complete a nine-year sentence for rape in Taunton in 2011 and growing cannabis in Chard in 2009.

At his trial last week, Morris, 43, of Sycamore Close, Taunton, denied four counts of possessing contraband items in prison and was found not guilty by the jury.

He remains in custody on recall but was awarded £28 to cover travel expenses for two earlier hearing when he was on bail.