AN award-winning former Keighley News reporter has set-up a public relations firm.

Nicky Harley has founded the Northern Press and PR Agency.

For the past six months she had worked at a top London PR company, representing clients including TV property guru Phil Spencer.

Miss Harley, 40, said she was looking forward to a "new exciting chapter".

"We hope local businesses will join us in our adventure and let us help raise their profile and firmly put them on the map," she added.

"I’ve got a proven track record with hundreds of exclusive investigations and articles for clients appearing in all the national and regional media over the last few months."

Miss Harley has more than two decades' experience working in the media industry.

In addition to her spell at the Keighley News, she also worked for sister titles the Ilkley Gazette, Wharfedale Observer and Telegraph & Argus.

She spent ten years at the Hull Daily Mail and also had stints with the Press Association and dailies including The Times, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times, Mail On Sunday and Guardian.

Miss Harley became the only journalist in the country to receive the High Sheriff’s Award, after she unearthed new evidence to convict a cold-case rapist in East Yorkshire.

And a Sunday Times investigation into the repeated cautioning of sex offenders led to a change in the law.

Her firm’s website is currently under construction but Miss Harley can be contacted at nicky@northernpressagency.co.uk.