A man who had tried to have sex with a postbox while drunk has been found dead.

Paul Bennett was fined and ordered to attend an alcohol-awareness course last month after he was caught in the lewd act outside a shopping centre.

The 45-year-old’s body was found behind Chinese restaurant Shanghai Palace in Wigan, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Police are not treating the death as suspicious.

A woman spotted Bennett performing a sex act and rubbing himself up and down the red mail box while shouting ‘wow’ in September 2014.

The witness contacted the police as Bennett pulled his pants up and checked his reflection before leaving.

(Image: Google Maps)

The incident occurred after Bennett was involved in a drunken row with a woman.

Last month, prosecutor Katie Beattie described how Bennett lay down on a bench in the precinct and started to shout, before sitting up and exposing himself by pulling his trousers down.

Miss Beattie said he then began performing a sex act and walked over to the postbox and ‘started to make sexual advances towards it.’

She added: “The victim was alarmed by his behaviour. The victim rang the police. She was disgusted by his behaviour.”

He was found guilty of two charges of indecent exposure as well as using threatening and abusive words and abusive behaviour at Wigan Magistrates Court last month.

Bennett, of Holborn Avenue, Wigan, was handed a 12-month community order with an alcohol treatment and supervision requirement.