A MAN has denied carrying out an eight-month burglary spree in which he is accused of stealing jewellery and cash from 20 homes across Devon including Okehampton, Mary Tavy and Tavistock.

Lukas Boboic, aged 24, pleaded not guilty to 20 burglaries and one attempted burglary when he appeared by video link at Exeter Crown Court.

He is alleged to have broken into houses at Okehampton, Mary Tavy, Tavistock, Ottery St Mary, Tiverton, Honiton, Colyford, West Hill, Budleigh Salterton, Exmouth and Crediton.

All the offences took place between June 2016 and February 2017 and most involved the theft of jewellery or cash. All but one was in Devon.

Boboic, of Polegate, East Sussex, is also accused of breaking into a house at Haywards Heath.

Judge Geoffrey Mercer, QC adjourned the case for a trial at Exeter in November.

The prosecution say Boboic was linked to the offences by phone tracking data showing he was close to the scenes of the crimes on the days when the houses were burgled.

He said he was moving around the country because he was on the run from immigration authorities.

The alleged burglaries included those at Upcott Valley in Okehampton, Milton Crescent and Violet Lane in Tavistock, and The Oaks, Mary Tavy in January 2017.