Hopefully he won't drop litter (9-6)

I believe the answer is:

stretcher-bearer

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'hopefully he won't drop' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.

'litter' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'litter' could be 'stretcher' (stretcher is a kind of litter) and 'stretcher' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'bearer' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.