A recluse died inside a labyrinth of tunnels he created in a mountain of litter at his house, it emerged today.

Gordon Stewart, 74, was discovered at his home which was crammed floor to ceiling with rubbish, police said.

Thames Valley Police were called to the Buckinghamshire property by concerned neighbours but were forced to bring in a Specialist Search and Recovery team to find the body.

After forcing entry, officers discovered a maze of tunnels networking around the interior of the building, with Mr Stewart lying dead inside.

Concerned neighbours raised the alarm because they had not seen the pensioner, who lived alone, for several days.

Locals, who described Mr Stewart as "a bit of a hermit", said the man was often spotted riding his bike around the streets.

Terence Dumpleton, 56, who lives a few doors down the road, said: "The old boy used to go past on his bike but he rarely talked to anybody.

"He used to do his shopping at 8.30pm, he was a bit of a hermit really."

Mr Dumpleton said the pensioner had lived on the road for over 20 years but the two had only spoken on two or three occasions and he had never been into the property.

"I have only ever been to the front door of his house," he said. "You can't actually get inside because there are cardboard boxes crammed from floor to ceiling - you can see that from the street.

"You can't even get anything through the letter box because of all the junk. He must have lived in a back room."

Mr Dumpleton said some locals had complained about the state of the pensioner's house, saying there were live rodents running around.

Another neighbour, Lillian Becker, added: "He (Mr Stewart) was a very private man in his life and we would like him to remain a private person in death.

"We are very distressed about what has happened."

A spokesman from Thames Valley Police, said: "Police were called on Friday at 12.26pm by a member of public who was concerned for welfare of a resident on Narbeth Drive.

"Police forced entry where they found a body of a man. There are no suspicious circumstances."

A post-mortem is due to take place today.