Draper, who owns Bondgate Books, told The Guardian he "just had to do something" when he discovered the note, so he put an appeal in the Northern Echo newspaper to find Bethany.

“She is really made up that she has got the letter back. She thought she would never see it again. She had given up looking for it,” he said.

Bethany has been overwhelmed by Draper's actions. “I can look back at it at any time I want and the words in it are so close to us,” she said. “This is the last piece of my mum that I have.”

Ms Gash now lives in Ferryhill, County Durham. She added that she plans to show the letter to her son, 18-month-old Oliver, when he's old enough to understand.

A mother's dying letter to her daughter has been returned 15 years on