Little boy's heartbreaking Christmas letter to his dead father sparks online search

A heartbreaking Christmas letter from a little boy to his dead father has been found attached to a balloon, sparking an appeal online to find the child that wrote it.

Stuart McColl, 30, was walking a friend's dog in some private fields in Dumfernline when he noticed a balloon lying on the ground which he later discovered had a small note attached to it.

Speaking to the Daily Mail Online, he said, 'We spotted this really sparkly looking balloon and I thought at first it was litter, so I thought I'd pick it up - then I found this tiny little note.'

The letter, written by an unidentified boy, addresses his father writing 'Hi Dad!' and is annotated with drawings of hearts and doodles. It goes on to tell his dad that he misses him, and that his dream would be to receive a hand written letter from him.

Dated 1st December, the letter reads:

'Hi dad, just writing a letter to tell you I'm missing you and tell you news!'

'I'm sure you know I'm in foster cause mom is sick and my ear is blocked from Monday. What tomorrow we're leaving.'

'I really miss school and you. I know you're up in heaven but are you safe? Oh ya before I go here's my dream and xmas list.'

'My dream is for you my daddy to put a note under my pillow that you wrote.'

'Xmas list: boots/studs, Astros, rebounder net, new Premier League ball, Real Madrid jersey and shorts and Rubik's Cube. Bye daddy. Love you.'

Stuart, a photographer, spoke of the emotional moment that he found the note, 'I almost cried - it was quite touching. I was just a bit kind of taken aback by the letter, it was just such a tragic note and it really affected me.'

https://www.facebook.com/lovewhatreallymatters/photos/a.710462625642805.1073741828.691679627521105/1335275043161557/?type=3&theater

'I went back to the house with the note and couldn't stop thinking about it and it was just too sad to ignore. So I posted it on Facebook to see if anyone could help.'

Now Stuart's aim is to find someone that knows the little boy, so that he can gift him the presents that he has asked for Christmas.

'The dream is to locate this person who wrote the note - and to hopefully get what he wanted for Christmas, that's the real dream of mine.

'A lot of people have already offered to contribute as well and to help buy presents or donate to charity as well.

'Even if we don't find this person what I'm going to do is set up a little charity page and that can help go towards foster care work.

'It's a huge response and it seems a waste not to make the most of it.'