TRIBUTES have been paid to a “well liked” doctor who spent his working life in the RAF, as a GP and ultimately as the coroner of North Hertfordshire.

Margaret Dines described her husband Dr John Dines, who passed away at his home in St Ippolyts on December 30 2010 aged 88, as “sensitive and caring”.

He was well known for his work as deputy coroner in North Hertfordshire and later on as the district coroner.

Dr Dines was born in Stevenage in 1922 and educated at Alleynes Grammar School. At the outbreak of the war he volunteered for the air force, serving from 1941 to 1946 as an RAF pilot in Burma.

He then joined what is now the Portmill Surgery, Hitchin, in 1967. His career in the medical profession spanned 25 years, after retiring from surgery in 1990 and as coroner in 1992.

Mrs Dines said: “As with every task he undertook, John embraced his work enthusiastically, really cared for his patients and became well liked in Hitchin.

“During this time, he became the deputy coroner and then, in 1979, the coroner of North Hertfordshire.

“He was well suited to the post as, when only a boy, he lost his father and a brother in two separate road accidents and so identified very closely with those suffering over sudden or unexpected deaths.

“There were many tributes to him on his sensitive and careful handling of these cases which helped the families during these terrible times.”

Combining his interests of flying and medicine, Dr Dines also became a Civil Aviation Authority examiner and the chief medical officer of Monarch Airlines in Luton.

“His ability to put people at their ease meant that many pilots actually enjoyed their compulsory six monthly medical,” said Mrs Dines.

“On retirement, his main love was home, family and gardening.

“St Ippolyts was well known to him from early days and it was fitting that after all his experiences he made it his final home.”