Paul Breen has been appointed the new group editor of the Highland News, North Star and Lochaber News.

The three weekly paid-for titles are all part of the Highland News Group, and in his new role Paul will also be responsible for the free Inverness Herald.

He succeeds Helen MacRae, who has been appointed group features editor of parent company Scottish Provincial Press, which publishes 12 weekly paid-for titles in the Highlands and North East Scotland.

Paul, (49), has been assistant editor and chief sub-editor of the Highland News Group for the past four years.

He began his career in his home town of Elgin, Moray, at The Northern Scot in 1974 and worked as a sub-editor on sister paper The Inverness Courier for 12 years.

He also spent 16 years at the Press and Journal, first in its Aberdeen office before moving to Inverness.

Paul said: “I am greatly looking forward to the challenge for my first editorship from my base in the booming city of Inverness, particularly as the three titles involved cover such a vast area of the Highlands stretching from Lochaber to Easter and Wester Ross.

“I have worked in regional and local newspapers for over 30 years and hope my experience in various posts will hold me in good stead for my new responsibilities.

“The Highland News Group has alway striven to to be entertaining and informative tabloid series with a hard edge for news.

“It will be my aim to continue this while strengthening the the grass-roots links our papers have with local communities to produce a variety of great local stories about local people.”

This week the papers launched an initiative with the police to highlight the scale and problems of coping with the rapid growth of Inverness, linked with a move to work with communities to react to those challenges.