diff --git a/restart_prompt.md b/restart_prompt.md
index a54cb0a..3577836 100644
--- a/restart_prompt.md
+++ b/restart_prompt.md
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ Scripts using shared IMAP folder handling:
 - `--audit` is available only in dry-run mode. It suppresses per-message dry-run lines and prints planned move counts grouped by source folder and destination folder for step 2 and step 3.
 - Long scans show progress counters: source folders are printed as `[current/total]`, and audit mode prints `Gescand: processed/total` every 250 messages and at folder completion.
 - IMAP `LIST`, `SELECT`, `UID SEARCH`, and `UID FETCH` aborts are logged and retried once after reconnecting. If reconnect also fails, the script records an `ABORT`/`ERROR` in `verplaats_log.json` instead of printing a Python traceback.
+- IMAP `FETCH` responses are parsed by selecting the first tuple bytes payload. This avoids crashes when `imaplib` returns extra response items before/after the actual header payload.
 - `MAP_RENAMES` is intentionally empty.
 - Source folders are selected by shared `list_folders()` plus `mail_routes.is_source_folder()`.
 - Step 2 routes all eligible source folders, not just `INBOX`.
@@ -188,6 +189,7 @@ Latest live mailbox verification:
 
 - Direct read-only IMAP count audit of both `hans` and `backup` accounts after the mirror.
 - The user ran the previous dry-run sorter version against `backup@australius.nl`. It reached `INBOX.Archief.2022.verzonden` after completing `INBOX.Archief.2022.inkomend`, then the IMAP server closed the connection with `Server shutting down.`. The current code has reconnect/retry handling for that failure mode.
+- The user started an actual sorter run on `backup@australius.nl`; it began moving messages from `INBOX` and then crashed on an unexpected IMAP `FETCH` response shape: `AttributeError: 'int' object has no attribute 'decode'`. The local `verplaats_log.json` contains processed `INBOX:<uid>` entries from that run and should be preserved if the user resumes sorting. The current code fixes this parser crash.
 - No live mailbox script was run by Codex while adding the latest reconnect changes.
 
 ## What To Do Next
diff --git a/verplaats_bestaand.py b/verplaats_bestaand.py
index 6bfa19a..44228bd 100644
--- a/verplaats_bestaand.py
+++ b/verplaats_bestaand.py
@@ -132,6 +132,16 @@ def print_progress(folder: str, processed: int, total: int):
         print(f"    Gescand: {processed}/{total}  |  {folder}")
 
 
+def fetch_body(data) -> bytes | None:
+    """Return the first bytes payload from an IMAP FETCH response."""
+    if not data:
+        return None
+    for item in data:
+        if isinstance(item, tuple) and len(item) >= 2 and isinstance(item[1], bytes):
+            return item[1]
+    return None
+
+
 def safe_select(session: ImapSession, log: dict, stap: str, folder: str, readonly: bool):
     for attempt in range(2):
         try:
@@ -357,12 +367,13 @@ def stap2_bronmappen_routing(session: ImapSession, log: dict, dry: bool):
                 readonly=dry,
             )
             mail = session.mail
-            if status != "OK" or not data or not data[0]:
+            raw_header = fetch_body(data)
+            if status != "OK" or raw_header is None:
                 mislukt += 1
                 log_failure(log, "stap2", bron, uid, None, "fetch_header", status, data)
                 continue
 
-            msg = email.message_from_bytes(data[0][1])
+            msg = email.message_from_bytes(raw_header)
             from_raw = decode_hdr(msg.get("From", ""))
             subject  = decode_hdr(msg.get("Subject", ""))
             date_str = msg.get("Date", "")
@@ -486,12 +497,13 @@ def stap3_facturen(session: ImapSession, log: dict, dry: bool):
                 readonly=dry,
             )
             mail = session.mail
-            if status != "OK" or not data or not data[0]:
+            raw_header = fetch_body(data)
+            if status != "OK" or raw_header is None:
                 mislukt += 1
                 log_failure(log, "stap3", bron, uid, None, "fetch_header", status, data)
                 continue
 
-            msg      = email.message_from_bytes(data[0][1])
+            msg      = email.message_from_bytes(raw_header)
             date_str = msg.get("Date", "")
             doel     = PREFIX + quarter_folder(date_str)
             gepland += 1