POSTMAN Mitchell Rickson failed to deliver more than 20,000 items of mail entrusted to him, Kidderminster magistrates heard this week.

Post Office detectives found bundles of mail in his home, his garden shed and the boot of his car, the court was told.

No envelope had been opened and nothing had been stolen.

Rickson, 37, of Mill Lane, Wolverley, was bailed for a pre-sentence report when he admitted delaying the mail and claiming, by deception, £340 of a special allowance made for delivering advertising material.

The mail found at his home included 16 first-class letters, dating back to October 1999, and 22 second-class items, said John Dove, prosecuting for the Post Office.

The rest of the 20,000 items were unaddressed advertising which the Post Office was paid to deliver on behalf of Argos, Matalan and other large retailers.

Rickson had not stolen from the mail, said his solicitor, Mark Sheward. None of the letters found in his possession had been opened.

He had no previous conviction and the offences followed his being unable to cope when his partner was away for several months in a family crisis and he was left to care for two children.

He was having to take them to school, cycle into Kidderminster sorting office to collect his mail, complete his round, return to the office, then collect the children and feed them.

He had been under stress but he had made no attempt to destroy any of the delayed mail, Mr Sheward told the court.

All the evidence was there when the investigators called on him and nothing was missing. The offences had cost him his job.