IT IS a heart-wrenching letter the father of a loving daughter will never get to read. The hand-written, heart-adorned plea from Jason Creswell's seven-year-old daughter Maddi begs him to come home.
But yesterday, the family's hopes of his safe return were dashed, as the Scottish security guard was confirmed as one of the two dead British hostages whose remains were handed over to the British Embassy in Baghdad. The other was Jason Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire.
Mr Creswell, a father of two from Aberdeen, was one of five hostages kidnapped in Iraq in May 2007.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent condolences to the families of the dead men last night as he called on the kidnappers to release the remaining three captives "immediately".
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) insisted there was every reason to believe the three remaining British hostages being held in Iraq were still alive.
Scant details of the hostages have been released following a virtual news blackout, which has remained in place since they were snatched more than two years ago.
Those still missing are two more security guards, known only as Alan from Dumbarton, and Alec from south Wales, as well as the IT consultant they were protecting, Peter Moore, from Lincoln.
A spokesman for the FCO told The Scotsman efforts to secure the release of the other three men were ongoing.
He said: "We do not negotiate with hostage-takers directly. We are working with the Iraqi government to try to secure the release of the hostages.
"That process is continuing. At this stage, we don't have any evidence to suggest whether they have come to any harm or not. So we have every reason to believe they are alive and well."
Mr Brown yesterday said there was "no justification" for taking hostages.
He said he had contacted the Iraqi prime minister and was working to secure the men's release "as soon as possible".
He sent his condolences to Mr Creswell and Mr Swindlehurst's families, who he said had received "the worst possible news after two years of very anxious waiting".
Foreign Secretary David Miliband reiterated calls for the immediate safe release of all the remaining hostages.
He said: "We are working intensively towards that goal, but I also have to say the threat to them remains high indeed."
He emphasised that he ruled out making any concessions to the kidnappers. He said: "Hostage-taking is never justified in any cause."
There are currently no details about how or when the two men died. Their bodies were decomposed and it has been confirmed they were not mutilated.
The kidnappers have in the past said Mr Swindlehurst took his own life in May 2008, but his family dismissed this, saying he was "not that sort of guy".
Mr Creswell has been linked to Portlethen, near Aberdeen. He drank in the Leathen Arms. The pub's owner, who did not want to be named, said: "I know the chap who was killed drank in the pub with a mate who is also a security guard in Iraq."
Mr Swindlehurst, a father of one, came from Skelmersdale, where his sister, Lizette, lives in the family home. His parents, Russell and Marie, moved to Malta several years ago.
In a statement, the FCO said it was with "deep regret" that it had informed the families of the hostages that "based on very strong indications", the two bodies were those of Mr Creswell and Mr Swindlehurst.
The two dead hostages worked as security guards for the Canadian security firm GardaWorld. They would have been earning up to £500 a day.
The wife and two young children of the man only known as Alan, from Dumbarton, are still waiting for news, after it was confirmed he was not one of those found dead. A friend said: "It's been hell, basically, for two and a bit years now. You have the continual uncertainty, the children growing up. His wife has been amazing in terms of the strength she is showing.
"Obviously, she has been very upset and distressed, but she has still managed to keep being a mother to their children."
She added: "At some stages, she has been quite positive, and at others critical (of the government's efforts]. It's impossible to know everything that has been done, but you do know that it is a lot. You can't imagine they are doing anything other than their utmost to release them."
Mr Moore's father, Graeme, described the wait for news of the dead men's identities as "torture". The 59-year-old delivery driver, from Leicestershire, added that the identification of the bodies yesterday brought "very mixed feelings".
He said: "I hope my son is alive, but I feel desperate for the other families. What they are going through is unimaginable."
The five contractors were seized in Baghdad, at the Iraqi finance ministry inside the city's "secure" Green Zone on 29 May, 2007, by about 40 armed men wearing police uniforms.
In February last year, a video broadcast by Dubai-based TV station al-Arabiya showed a bearded and tired-looking Mr Moore asking Mr Brown to free nine Iraqis in exchange for the British hostages. He said: "All I want is to leave this place. I tell Gordon Brown the matter is simple – release their prisoners so we can go."
Responsibility for the kidnapping was at first pinned on Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. It was thought to be retaliation for the killing by British forces of the militia's commander in Basra, southern Iraq, a week earlier.
The release of a leading Iraqi militant by US forces earlier this month had sparked fresh hopes that the kidnapped Britons could be freed.
The American military handed Shiite insurgent Laith al-Khazali over to the Iraqi authorities on 6 June.
Al-Khazali is a senior member of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or the League of the Righteous, which has also been linked to the kidnapping.
Aberdeen MSP Lewis McDonald said: "It is a tragic and terrible outcome for these families who have waited so long, and for the men themselves who are victims of circumstances and who were clearly in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's very distressing that the efforts that were clearly being made to get them out alive have not succeeded."
Last night a spokesman for GardaWorld said Mr Creswell and Mr Swindlehurst had been "outstanding individuals and experts".
In a statement on behalf of the Canadian firm, the spokesman said: "
This development is deeply shocking for the company and particularly the families and friends of the victims.
"Our thoughts are with them at this tremendously sad and difficult time.
We continue to be deeply concerned for the remaining three hostages and are doing everything we can to achieve their release."
Maddi Creswell's letter to her father . . .