GWENT police has appointed a new assistant chief constable.

Lorraine Bottomley, who is currently chief superintendent at West Midlands Police, will take over the role from Paul Symes who has been temporary assistant chief constable since March.

The exact date of when Ms Bottomley will take up the new post has yet to be announced.

Prior to this appointment, Ms Bottomley has most recently been chief superintendent and head of policing for Birmingham North.

Since joining the West Midlands Police in 1986, she has worked in a number of areas including as a collaborative lead for West Midlands and Staffordshire Police, head of professional standards and anti-corruption and a full time senior investigating officer in the CID.

Before joining West Midlands Police, she worked as a teacher in Birmingham.

She said: "I am absolutely delighted and honoured to be joining Gwent Police and look forward to taking up this challenging role. While having very fond memories of my time at West Midlands, I’ll be joining a very strong chief officer team and look forward to contributing to the continued strong performance of the force.

"Gwent Police has a good reputation and I very much look forward to working alongside my new colleagues, the Police and Crime Commissioner, partner organisations and residents to make Gwent an even safer place."

Chief Constable Carmel Napier said: "I congratulate Lorraine on her success and look forward to working with her when she takes up this vitally important role.

"She will bring with her skills and experience she has developed in her impressive career with West Midlands Police where she has worked in several different areas of policing.

"Lorraine will help ensure that we continue to perform well and provide the residents of Gwent with the best possible policing service over the coming years."

Gwent police and crime commissioner, Ian Johnston said: "I’m very much looking forward to working with Lorraine to further improve our service to the public and make a real a contribution to their quality of life."