A journalist who has worked on regional newspapers in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales has been named as the new editor at the Cambridge Evening News.

Murray Morse, who is deputy editor at The Chronicle, Newcastle, starts his new job in November.

He will replace Colin Grant, who is leaving to become group editor-in-chief of Herts & Essex Newspapers. He has been editor at Cambridge for almost six years.

Murray has wide experience of newspapers and has previously worked as news editor at the Belfast Telegraph, the Edinburgh Evening News and the Daily Record, and assistant editor at the South Wales Argus and The Sun.

He began his career in journalism at his local newspaper, the Worthing Gazette, before moving on to the Southern Daily Echo when he became a qualified senior.

He said: “I was there for seven years and started off as a district reporter. I was very lucky in that I had a series of promotions, to political editor, chief reporter, assistant and then deputy news editor.”

He moved to television as deputy news editor for the then TVS company, working on new shows fronted by Fred Dineage and Fern Britton.

Then after his spell at the Daily Record he decided on a return to the regional press, and set himself a five-year target to become editor of a regional paper, a target he missed by only a couple of months.

Murray said: “I’m sorry to be leaving Newcastle, it’s been a great three years and a really good news area – but the pull of Cambridge is a good one.

“They are very forward-looking there and my goal will be to get people talking about the paper as well as reading it.”