Brian Paine, a former senior editor with the Kent Messenger Group, has died suddenly in Spain, aged 65.

He retired as features editor a little over two years ago to enjoy the sunshine of southern Spain with his wife, Pam.

Brian had for several years headed the Kent Messenger Group's features department responsible for numerous specialist publications, including What’s On, Homes and Motors.

He was also editor of Kent Business, the KMG’s monthly business publication, from its inception in 1993, and Kent Business Week, a weekly supplement published with the Kent Evening Post/Kent Today, the discontinued KMG daily newspaper. He enjoyed wide connections with Kent and Medway’s business community. He also helped set up the KMG’s public relations offshoot.

Brian, (pictured), was a Midlander and worked for newspapers including the Coventry Evening Telegraph, and publications in Market Harborough before joining KMG at its Larkfield headquarters in the mid-1980s.

Prior to that, he had left the UK to work in the Middle East, firstly in the Gulf state of Qatar and later the island of Bahrain. After a spell of sub-editing, he became editor of the weekly Gulf Mirror, a newspaper circulating in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

After his retirement he continued to write articles about Spanish property and the Spanish scene for KMG titles until shortly before his death.