A FINANCE company has written off a £500 debt after learning that a Dixons store sold a stereo system and video recorder to a deaf-mute man and the wife he met in an institution.

And today, after the Lancashire Evening Telegraph intervened, Dixons agreed to clear the cost of the Sony CD stereo which was returned to the Blackburn town centre branch by angry relatives 12 months ago.

Mrs Jean King, who met her husband John while they were residents at Langho Colony, was invited to open the credit account when she bought a portable television.

Her sister, Mrs Kathleen Jackson, thought she had paid cash but discovered the truth when she arrived at the couple's sheltered bungalow in Blackburn to see the other electrical items.

She said: "My sister has lived in institutions virtually all her life. She is not familiar with the world around her.

"She is incapable of understanding the principle involved in buying an item on credit.

"She and her husband had no idea what those other items did. They simply thought they were nice pieces of furniture."

Speaking to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, John, 73, and Jean, 58, said they did not understand the other electrical items.

The couple, both on benefits, had been repaying the account until the family intervened and discovered the returned CD player had not been credited from the account.

The balance of the account rose to £1,017 because the family refused to pay off any more money until the problem was solved.

But Lombard's Mike Crawshaw said the company would not have offered credit to Mrs King had they known her full circumstances.

He said: "They have been sold things they have no use for. What has happened is a shame.

"But these transactions are done in shops at the point of sale. Our only contact is via the telephone. "We are prepared to write off the remaining debt."

A Dixons spokesman said the transactions had occurred between two and three years ago and that the original staff no longer worked in Blackburn.

He added: "It is certainly not Dixons' policy to sell goods to anyone who is considered incapable of making a reasoned decision.

In this case, the credit application was filled out correctly and accepted by the finance company in good faith.

"Apparently the CD player that she purchased was returned to Dixons on the condition that a refund would be made available when the back-up paperwork was produced. Mrs King never arrived with the paperwork.

"We have spoken to Lombard Tricity Finance and will arrange for Dixons to refund the cost of the CD player to her account."

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