Reach group editor-in-chief Lloyd Embley has stepped down with immediate effect after almost 30 years with the publisher.

Embley has been editor-in-chief since 2014 and his previous roles at Reach, and in its previous form as Trinity Mirror, include night editor and assistant editor of the Daily Mirror, editor of the Sunday People, and editor-in-chief of the Daily and Sunday Mirror.

Reach’s various editors will now report directly “on operational matters” to chief executive Jim Mullen “while continuing to lead their brands and teams with independence and authority”, Mullen explained in an email to editorial staff on Wednesday.