Paul Walker has been appointed editor of the Dudley News, Halesowen News and Stourbridge News.

He had been acting editor at the three weekly Newsquest titles since April, when Jeff Jephcott retired from the post after 13 years.

The free newspapers have a combined distribution of 131, 235.

Prior to joining the News group, Paul, (45), had been editor of the Redditch Advertiser for eight years.

He told HoldtheFrontPage: "The big challenge for us is developing the website.

"A lot of work has been done on them and there is more to do as these things never stand still.

"The website has been expanding rapidly and now has picture galleries and daily news updates etc, so in effect we are running weekly papers and a daily."

Originally from Zimbabwe, Paul began his journalism career on the country's national newspaper, The Herald.

He moved to the UK in 1983, joining the St Albans Review, and also worked for a series of weekly newspapers in North London, which included the Hendon Times, before moving to the Birmingham Evening Mail.

Before joining the Redditch Advertiser he had been deputy editor of the Kidderminster Shuttle.