A FORMER councillor has spoken of his distress after a company inundated him with letters addressed to his late wife, inviting her to enter a cash prize draw.

Jim Smith, of Sunnybrow, near Crook, has been plagued by offers for him and his late wife, Jan, to try to win more than £23,000 by calling a telephone line with a prize number.

The letters, sent to Mrs Smith by a company in Austria, read: "I've tried to reach you on numerous occasions during the last few days to make you aware of your chances for winning. Perhaps your telephone number could be sent to me, Mrs Smith?"

Mr Smith, a former chairman of Wear Valley District Council, lost his wife from a heart attack five years ago when she was aged only 49. He tragically lost his son Jonathan, 22, from cancer a few months before her death.

He said: "It is distressing. They are obviously not up-to-date because it will be six years in May since she died.

"It's also a reminder all the time. You don't need someone reminding you in the post what happened, especially by a company you don't even know.

"They all arrived just before Christmas on the same day, four addressed to my late wife and three to me, which made them even more conspicuous."

Mr Smith, 60, said he was also concerned people might be tempted to call the prize telephone line, charged at £1.50 per minute. The letter recommends people to call it every day for 30 days.

Peter Fleming, of County Durham trading standards, said: "The fact that they've got hold of his wife's name is distressing.

"Our advice to consumers is to think before you either telephone or send any money off, because our experience is that there's nothing at the end, or even worse, you end up spending more than the prize money.