TRIBUTES have been paid to a highly-thought-of builder whose body was found in a Suffolk river.

Police were called to the Orwell Bridge at 12.37am on Tuesday, May 29, and the Felixstowe mud rescue team was called at 1.20am.

Officers were called after members of the public reporting seeing a car on the bridge.

Today, town residents have paid tribute to the “kind-hearted” father-of-two, who was named locally as Jozef Lari.

Mr Lari, who was a twin and lived in Crofton Close, Ipswich, is thought to have been a self-employed builder.

Paying tribute to Mr Lari, who is believed to be in his 50s, Len Blackett, of Ipswich, said: “Over the years he did lots of work for me. I have known him for about 20 or 25 years now. It’s very sad.

“His wife died when his children were very young and he raised them on his own.

“He was a great builder and he was really into his fishing. He was a great fisherman and he was just a really lovely man.”

George Alderson, president of the Gipping Angling Club, said Mr Lari had been a member of the group when he was younger. Another town resident, who asked not to be named, told the Ipswich Star that Mr Lari was a “kind-hearted soul”.

She said: “I’m so shocked. He was just a really nice man.”

An inquest into his death has been opened and adjourned.