A DOCUMENTARY to be aired tonight will document the difficulties of an obsessive compulsive hoarder – whose habit became so bad that even cooking a hot meal poses a major fire risk.

Richard Wallace, 61, accrued so much stuff in his house that the growing accumulation of old newspapers and paraphernalia could be seen on Google Earth.

So packed is his house – and an adjoining building which he acquired solely to store more things – that he eats and sleeps in a chair, because there is simply no room to do them anywhere else.

A Channel 4 documentary to be aired tonight documents Wallace’s struggle to overcome his mental conditions, which has seen him go to court to contest a council order to clear his land.

He won that case, successfully arguing he had the right to keep his land as he saw fit, but has now begun the difficult process of clearing his house and gardens – which include 34 years’ worth of newspapers.

A documentary on Wallace’s condition, ‘Obsessive Compusive Hoarder’, will air at 9pm on Channel 4.