Postwoman had 5,000 items of mail at home

A postwoman who was "out of her depth" with her rounds hoarded thousands of items of mail including Christmas gifts and cards in her Wolverhampton home.

Hannah Moore-Kelly started taking undelivered mail home days after starting her Bilston-based job in December last year.

She was warned she was facing jail after stashing letters and parcels in black bin bags that were found strewn throughout her house when Royal Mail investigators swooped following complaints from the public.

The 21-year-old shredded around 20 letters after bosses were alerted but more than 5,000 items were discovered unopened.

Moore-Kelly, who was living in Carlyle Road, The Scotlands, at the time but has since moved back to her mother's home in Penn, was employed as a postwoman for six weeks until she was suspended in February, Wolverhampton Magistrates Court heard.

When her delivery office manager visited Moore-Kelly at home, he discovered unopened mail in bins outside, Mr John Dove, prosecuting, said.

"Investigators subsequently went to the address and found mail all over the premises," Mr Dove added.

Moore-Kelly, now of Wells Road, immediately confessed. She pleaded guilty to delaying the delivery of 5,581 postal packets between December 16, 2010, and February 3, 2011, when she appeared at court yesterday.

Mr Dove said Moore-Kelly had started hoarding mail "days" into the job.

Mr Richard Quinn, defending, said: "She just got out of her depth.

"She took on this job when she was suffering from depression. She had recently lost her grandmother and has bitten off more than she could chew."

District Judge Graham Wilkinson told Moore-Kelly her actions had upset a lot of people.

"This was Christmas and yet because of you, people weren't getting their cards, and gifts," he said."There would have been a knock-on effect for all sorts of people. You were in a position of trust and you breached it."

Adjourning the case so a pre-sentence report can be prepared by probation officers, District Judge Wilkinson warned Moore-Kelly she could be jailed.

She was released on unconditional bail to appear before city magistrates to learn her fate on June 21.