Morrissey autobiography: Smiths frontman scolds British justice system

Singer describes Judge John Weeks as the 'pride of pipsqueakery'

Morrissey's autobiography is predictably explosive (Getty Images)

It was never going to be a safe, gentle account of Morrissey's life, but the former Smiths frontman has excelled himself with the frank revelations in his new autobiography.

The 54-year-old singer takes aim at the British justice system in an almost 50 page rant.

In a 1996 court case over unpaid royalties to The Smiths drummer Mike Joyce, Judge John Weeks described Morrissey as "devious, truculent and unreliable".

Getting his revenge, Morrissey calls the judge the "pride of pipsqueakery", adding: "Weeks tore into me with a thunder reserved for rapists and murderers. How do we rap these outspoken pop stars on the knuckles? How do we put them out of action?"

He describes Judge Weeks as "ringing his creased little hangman's hands whilst resembling a pile of untouched sandwiches".

The book, titled Autobiography and published as a Penguin "classic", also has little affection for Lord Justice Waller, who ruled at the Court of Appeal in 1998 that Judge Weeks's infamous summation of the singer had not been inaccurate.

Morrissey says Lord Waller "fell asleep unashamedly" and claims that as he awoke from his slumber he began to pick his nose.

"It would be comical if not so grotesque, and we can only despair at how lives and reputations rely so urgently on the thoughts of such puppetry," Morrissey writes.

His own barrister, Murray Rosen, is also in the firing line. Morrissey claims that as Mr Rosen was "in line for promotion", he failed to use all of the available evidence in the pop star's defence.

"In the halls of justice, solidarity must never be jumbled by mere scruples," he says.