IPSWICH/LITHUANIA: Devastated and more than 1,000 miles from home, the widow of a man who died in an Ipswich street is today pleading for help to lay her husband to rest.

Leaving their friends and family in Vilnius, Lithuania, full of hope for a better life, Donatas Kislauskas and his wife Dovile Cepliejute moved to the UK three years ago.

But today that dream lies shattered. The family’s hope has been replaced with tragedy after Mr Kislauskas’s sudden death following a night out last Friday to celebrate his first permanent job since moving to Ipswich.

Grieving Dovile is today trying to come to terms with losing her 29-year-old husband, while caring for the couple’s two-year-old son Christopher.

The mum, who lives in Wherstead Road, is desperate to raise enough money to fly her husband’s body back to Lithuania and lay him to rest.

She told The Star: “My husband was so happy with life, he was a very good man and a wonderful father. We love him very much and he will always remain in our memories.”

But she said after learning it will cost around �2,500 to fly his body home and bury him, she didn’t know where to turn for help.

Louise Sandham, branch manager at Staff Bank, the recruitment company which found Mr Kislauskas his first permanent role with a firm in Hadleigh just a week before he died, said they were doing all they could to help his widow and son.

She said a host of local businesses have come forward pledging to help by donating items to a raffle Staff Bank is holding in aid of the family.

“Donatas worked for us for nearly one year. He was a dedicated and hard-working gentleman who due to his reliability had secured a permanent position with one of our clients,” she said.

“We are so very devastated for his family and deeply shocked that he has gone. We feel very much for his wife Dovile and his two-year-old son who wish to take him home to be laid to rest.”

Mr Kislauskas’s body was discovered in Queen Street by a member of the public at around 6.50am on Saturday.

Police officers investigating the unexplained death have been trawling through CCTV footage in a bid to piece together the young father’s last known movements. He was first spotted at around 11.30pm in Cardinal Park. But at 4am officers spotted Mr Kislauskas, who is understood to have been drunk, stumbling on the Cornhill. When paramedics reached Mr Kislausaks, it is understood his lips had turned blue.

n Anyone with information which may help with the investigation should call police on 101.

n Pay your tributes to Donatas. Write to Your Letters, Ipswich Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail starletters@archant.co.uk