West Hampstead boy, 8, receives letter from Paddington Bear

Paddington Bear often sent letters to Aunt Lucy in deepest, darkest Peru - but when a West Hampstead eight-year-old, wrote to the marmalade-loving bear, the cuddly character wrote back.

Speaking on Tuesday about the moment they opened the letter from the spectacled-bear, Tahir Rahman’s mum, Jennifer, 36, said: “He was ecstatic. He was showing it off so much.

“Because of Paddington writing to him, he thinks he’s his pen pal. Paddington seems to be something that connects all the kids together in my home,” she added.

Tahir’s letter was delivered to the director of Paddington 2, when his older sister, 14-year-old Anisah, went on a set visit as part of the Haverstock School Journalism Project.

Tahir, who is autistic, told the South American character that he understood ‘how city life is so hard’ as he sometimes found Oxford Street to be boring.

Paddington replied using the same stationery and handwriting as in the film, which is released this month.

He wrote to say how he was enjoying the cold weather, and had eaten marmalade sandwiches after going ice skating.