Heartbreaking tributes to Ukrainian postman found dead in County Durham

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/no ... t-30530097

Heartbroken friends of a young postman who fled his war-torn homeland are raising money to have his body repatriated after he was found dead.

The body of Oleksandr Cherednichenko, who was from Ukraine, was found dead in his car in County Durham, last month.

An inquest has been opened to determine the circumstances surrounding the death of the 25-year-old who was known to his loved ones as Sasha. Now devastated friends in the North East are raising money so his body can be sent back to his parents in Odessa.

Sam Rees, from Haydon Bridge, sponsored Sasha to move to the UK with his wife, Kate, when Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022. The 57-year-old support worker said: “I got a call to say he was dead in the car.


“We had been worrying about him for days. I had been ringing him and ringing him. I thought ‘it can’t be true’, he was only 25. The shock has been devastating. It has been a nightmare.”

Sasha and his wife had separated since moving to the North East but remained friends. The couple initially lived in Newcastle but he moved to Bowburn, near Durham, and was employed by the Royal Mail. Sasha was also close to Sam’s son, Caleb, 27, and his partner, Dasha, who is also from Ukraine.

Sam was contacted by police after his body was found in his Honda CR-V on the B6295 at Cowshill, Stanhope, on November 10. She said Sasha’s family now has to find around £4,500 to have his body sent home. Sam said: “He was such a lovely young man. Everybody who met him must have thought the same as we did.

“His parents must have been so proud of him. He was an only child as well. They are completely devastated by what has happened. Their only child has died in another country, they cannot come over and they do not speak English.

“Now they have got to raise all of this money to get him back so I set up the Go Fund Me because I thought I could just help a little bit. I can only imagine what she is going through.”

To support the fundraiser click here.

[TopperGas]

A tragic story, assuming he was employed by Royal Mail and not an agency worker then I wonder if they could help with the fund raising in any way?