Ariston 2000 AWD10 Advantage – trouble draining

Hi

I bought a flat about 6 months ago with a Margherita 2000 AWD10 Advantage washer dryer installed. It worked fantastically well for the first few months but has recently been giving some trouble. When the machine is draining (whether during the spin/rinse or otherwise) there is a grinding noise, the decibel level of which seems to depend on how much water would be coming out. I do not think wash results are particularly affected, although a smell sometimes builds up if I do not use the machine for a week or so.

I think this began around the time when I (stupidly) forgot to remove a piece of paper from jean pockets, so I suspect there is a blockage somewhere, but I remove the machine from its cupboard and tried to check for a blockage in the pipe. I managed to get rid of a bit of paper/fluff and it reduced the noise short term, although now it is back as bad as ever!

If you have any tips at all on how to fix this or unblock the machine I would really appreciate it.

Thanks
S