A regional digital editor who hit the headlines himself after marrying a jilted bride whose story he covered is leaving the industry to go freelance.

John Siddle, a former news editor at the Liverpool Echo, has decided to leave his role as head of audience at the Coventry Telegraph to pursue new ventures.

HTFP reported last year how John had married his former university journalism coursemate Katy Gough, who wrote a series of novels under her pen name Katy Colins after her planned wedding to someone else was cancelled at short notice in 2012.

Before their real-life Bridget Jones story came to pass the pair hadn’t spoken in 10 years – but romance blossomed after John covered Katy’s story while he was working for the Echo, and she gave birth to their first child, a daughter called Everleigh, last May.

Katy and John

After starting his career as a trainee reporter at the Southport Visiter in 2007, John moved to the Echo in 2011 as a senior reporter, before then being appointed crime reporter.

In 2015, he was appointed as a content editor at the title, before then moving to Coventry in October 2016.

The Telegraph website was last year revealed as the fastest growing regional site in the country and hit a 10m page views a month milestone for the first time, as well as seeing record video and social media growth.

Said John: “I have had some brilliant times with Trinity Mirror and there are plenty of people to thank for developing me as a journalist and editor over the years.

“However, after more than ten years with company, and having recently become a dad for the first time, I feel now is the right time to take my career in a different direction. I wish my former colleagues in Liverpool and Coventry all the best.”