Paul Napier has been appointed as the new editor of the Hartlepool Mail, succeeding Harry Blackwood, who left the company in March.

Paul is currently editor of the Scarborough Evening News, a post he has held since November 2001.

He will start work at the Mail on May 21.

He was previously editor-in-chief of the Bucks Herald in Aylesbury and before that was editor of the Banbury Guardian. He spent the seven years prior to that on the Evening Telegraph in Kettering, rising to the position of assistant editor.

Both the Mail and the Evening News are owned by Johnston Press and an announcement on the Scarborough vacancy will be made in due course.

Paul said: "I'm very much looking forward to getting started in Hartlepool. I know the paper from a distance and am looking forward to finding out more about it.

"I'll miss Scarborough hugely. I've absolutely loved it here and it will be a wrench to leave."

At Scarborough Paul is also editorial director of Yorkshire Regional Newspapers, which publishes the Evening News, seven paid-for weeklies, three free weeklies and seven websites.

Harry Blackwood was sacked from the Mail in the wake of a row with local MP Peter Mandelson, who is said to have tried to get the editor ousted following what he saw as unfavourable coverage.

Downing Street got involved, and denied claims that the Prime Minister intervened in a dispute between Mr Mandelson and the Mail.

Johnston said it found the idea that political pressure could influence editorial policy or employment of editors "offensive".

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