A POSTMAN dumped more than 1,000 items of mail because he couldn't cope with work pressures.

Arthur Patrick Danby, of Wharton Gardens in Winsford, also admitted dumping a similar number of items of junk mail when he appeared at Vale Royal Magistrates Court in Northwich on Monday.

The 35-year-old, who had worked as a postman for just over a year, admitted three charges of delaying the post, as well as a charge of opening a letter. One further allegation of theft was withdrawn.

Jack McGarver, prosecuting, told the court that the incident came to light thanks to public vigilance.

He said: 'On October 22 last year a member of the public reported to the police that they had found a black bin liner full of mail. It was found to contain 393 packets of mail that were due to be delivered on June 14.

'The next day a security team from the Post Office searched the area and found a further 88 items which were due for delivery on July 19.

'Members of the public found a further four bin liners on October 30 and inquiries showed that it had been due to be delivered by Danby.

'A search was then made of his van and, in total, a further 633 items of mail were found, three of which had been opened. About half of the mail was day-to-day items, essentially junk mail, and the other half was normal post.'

Jeff Fletcher, defending, said his client 'could not say no to overtime'.

'He had an extra 1,721 packets of mail to deliver to just over 575 houses, which would have taken another four hours on top of his usual day,' said Mr Fletcher.

'It was getting him down and he found it was beyond his ability, he had only started working there about a month earlier.'

Magistrates sentenced Danby to 100 hours of community punishment, gave him a 12-month community rehabilitation order and told him to pay £250 compensation.