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The man, named locally as Simon Pilkington, aged in his 30s, was discovered on Church Street on Friday, January 13, at about 3.30am.

He was taken to hospital, but sadly later died.

A police cordon was put in place around the scene for most of the morning and parts of Church Street and White Hart Street were closed for a few hours.

Tributes have been paid to Simon Pilkington who died after being found collapsed in Mansfield town centre

The cause of death is not yet known but officers do not believe it to be suspicious.

However, they are still appealing for any witnesses who saw Simon that night to come forward, in particular two taxi drivers who are believed to have interacted with him.

Simon has been described as “a loving son, brother, boyfriend and friend taken too soon but his memory will live on in all the lives he touched”.

Flowers have now been placed close to the spot in Church Street where he was found with the tributes to him being led by his close friend Joe Smith.

Floral tributes to Simon have left at the place he was found on Church Street

Joe said: “I’d known him for many years and I started the floral tributes on Church Street for him.

“He worked several different jobs around the town, he worked at Linney, he worked at B&M, he worked all around the Mansfield area and lots of people knew him.

“It was absolutely horrendous to hear the news that he’d died.

“I was at work when it happened at it was really upsetting.

“It was heartbreaking and I was just in shock.”

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A GoFundMe page is now running online, to help raise the money towards his funeral.

Several people have also paid tribute to Simon on the page.

One said: “So sad to be having to do this for one of life's such gooduns, rest peacefully Si.”

Another said: “You will be missed by so many.”

An old school friend said: “Grew up with Simon through secondary school at High Oakham and then Brunts and was pretty much in his form the whole way through.

“Absolutely shook about the news and took us by surprise. What a nice lad he was! Haven’t seen him for a good few years but we had some great times growing up.”

To donate to the fundraiser, see bit.ly/3Xum0EY

Tributes paid to young man who died after collapsing in Mansfield town centre