Paul Napier is to be the new editor of the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Currently editor of the Hartlepool Mail, he will succeed Neil Hodgkinson who is now editorial director of Cumbrian Newspapers.

Paul (pictured) is an experienced Johnston Press editor, having edited the Scarborough Evening News for two years before joining the Hartlepool Mail in May 2003.

He told HoldtheFrontPage: “The Yorkshire Evening Post is a fantastic paper with a great history of campaigning and strong quality journalism.

“It has shown it is willing to stand up for its readers and I’m looking forward forward to joining the team in Leeds.

“I’ve loved being editor of the Hartlepool Mail and there will be a good chunk of me that will feel a wrench when I walk out of here, but the YEP is a bigger paper and I’m sure it will be equally enjoyable.”

Paul, (39), is also a former editor-in-chief of the Bucks Herald in Aylesbury and before that was editor of the Banbury Guardian.

He also spent seven years at the Evening Telegraph in Kettering, working his way up the ranks to assistant editor.

The Leeds-based Yorkshire Evening Post sells 64,770 compared with the Hartlepool Mail’s 20,433 (ABC Mon – Fri, July to Dec 2005).