Scotsman Obituaries: Paul Henke, diver, businessman, novelist and councillor

Henke was born in 1950 in South Wales, the son of a Polish immigrant who came to Britain in the Second World War and later worked as a coalminer. He grew up in the Pontypridd area, where Labour politics dominated almost every aspect of civic life, yet his father was a committed Conservative.He was educated at Pontypridd Boys' Grammar School, where he developed an ambition to become a Royal Navy officer and in 1968, at 18, he entered the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.

After completing officer training he entered the world of mine warfare, qualifying in 1974 as a Mine Clearance Diving Officer at HMS Vernon, Portsmouth, the Royal Navy's principal establishment for mine warfare, diving and explosive ordnance disposal. The work was inherently dangerous, requiring officers not only to understand explosives and underwater engineering but to command small, highly trained teams operating in unforgiving conditions.

Henke’s duties included underwater bomb disposal and the neutralisation of Second World War explosives still being discovered around Britain's coastline decades after the conflict had ended. He went on to command a succession of Royal Navy mine counter-measure vessels – both minesweepers and minehunters.

After leaving regular naval service he continued in the Royal Naval Reserve, ultimately attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander. His combined service in the regular and reserve forces spanned around 25 years.His expertise beneath the sea led naturally into the commercial offshore industry. During the 1980s he spent some 15 months in Nigeria, where he was responsible for a commercial saturation diving system. Saturation diving represented the cutting edge of offshore engineering. Divers lived for prolonged periods inside pressurised chambers, travelling to the seabed in diving bells and remaining under pressure for weeks at a time before undergoing a single, carefully managed decompression. Managing such a system demanded meticulous attention to safety, engineering, medical procedures and operational planning.

After Nigeria he spent around a year in the US Midwest before returning to Britain and embarking on the third major phase of his professional life. Drawing upon the discipline and organisational skills acquired during his naval and offshore careers, he established a successful business in financial services. It was this stage that gave him the freedom to pursue the vocation for which he would become best known.

Writing had always appealed to Henke, but it was only after leaving full-time commercial work that he devoted himself seriously to fiction. Over the following three decades he became a remarkably prolific novelist, publishing around 20 books and establishing a loyal readership drawn to his combination of technical authenticity, fast-moving plots and understated humour.

His best-known action novels centred on Nick Hunter and counter-terrorism organisation TIFAT (The International Force Against Terrorism). Books such as Mayhem, Chaos, Havoc, Turmoil, Corruption, Retribution and Vendetta drew upon his understanding of military operations, intelligence, explosives and international affairs. Readers recognised that the technical detail was the product of lived experience.

At the same time, Henke developed a very different body of work in his Tears series of historical novels. Beginning with A Million Tears in 1998, the sequence followed the fortunes of the Griffiths family through the upheavals of the 20th century. If the thrillers reflected the professional world he had inhabited, the historical novels revealed something more personal: an enduring affection for his Welsh roots.

By the time he entered public life, Henke had already lived several distinct careers. Yet those who knew him best recognised a common thread running through them all: an instinct for service, a willingness to shoulder responsibility and an independence of mind that never sat comfortably with bureaucracy or pretension.

Henke and his wife, Dorothy, eventually settled first near Kincardine Bridge before moving to Balfron, a village that would become the centre of his public life.

He immersed himself in village life with the same energy he had devoted to the Navy and business. Before ever seeking elected office he served for six years as president of the parent-teacher association and five as chairman of Balfron Community Council, developing a detailed understanding of the challenges facing rural communities. Those who worked with him came to value his willingness to master the detail of planning applications, road maintenance, housing policy and local services rather than merely complain about them.

Politics came comparatively late. Although he had long regarded himself as a Conservative his first significant political involvement was with the United Kingdom Independence Party. As Britain's relationship with the EU came increasingly to dominate public debate, Henke became active in UKIP and eventually rose to become chairman of the party in Scotland.

He contested the Stirling constituency for UKIP at the 2010 General Election, polling modestly but establishing himself as one of the party's better-known Scottish figures. He also played a prominent role in preparations for the 2014 European Parliament elections, a campaign that would unexpectedly propel him into national headlines.

The controversy centred on the selection of David Coburn as UKIP's lead candidate in Scotland. Henke and several other senior Scottish members raised concerns about the process by which Coburn had been selected and aspects of his conduct. Henke also spoke publicly, believing that internal concerns ought not simply to be ignored. The party leadership took a very different view.

In February 2014 UKIP's national chairman, Steve Crowther, informed Henke he had been suspended from membership for 100 years, accused of bringing the party into disrepute and deliberately damaging its Scottish election campaign. Even by the colourful standards of British politics, the punishment attracted widespread astonishment.

Rather than treating the affair as political theatre, Henke challenged the decision through the courts. Proceedings in the Central London County Court established that the disciplinary process had not been carried out in accordance with the party's own rules. The suspension was declared invalid, Henke's membership restored and UKIP ordered to pay the greater part of his legal costs

Following the referendum on Britain's membership of the EU and the achievement of Brexit, Henke quietly returned to what he always regarded as his political home: the Conservative Party. He stood unsuccessfully for Bannockburn ward at the 2017 Stirling Council elections before securing election in May 2022 as Scottish Conservative and Unionist councillor for Forth and Endrick.

The ward, stretching across much of western Stirlingshire, suited both his temperament and experience. It was large, predominantly rural and concerned with practical questions rather than ideological disputes. Henke devoted himself to improving local roads, expanding affordable housing, strengthening education and protecting essential public services.

In later life Henke confronted two serious health challenges. He underwent treatment for prostate cancer and subsequently suffered a stroke. Neither experience diminished his determination to remain active. Through rehabilitation and physiotherapy he returned both to his writing desk and to council work, approaching recovery with the same resilience that had characterised his years as a diver and naval officer.

Paul Henke is survived by his wife, Dorothy, their children and grandchildren.

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