Constance Briscoe’s Ugly legal battle

When barrister-turned-author Constance Briscoe (pictured) published her best-selling 'misery memoir', Ugly, readers were shocked by her account of her traumatic childhood. None more so than her mother, who yesterday launched a libel case against the writer in an attempt to disprove some of the book's more horrific claims, among them that she cut her daughter with a knife when she was a child.

Carmen Briscoe-Mitchell, 73, claims that Briscoe's book, which has sold 400,000 copies and made her a millionaire, is not a true account and is suing her daughter, who is also a part-time judge, for damages.

The allegations featured in Ugly are certainly horrific. In addition to the knife incident, Briscoe, 50, claimed that her mother had routinely told her she was ugly and had twisted her breasts so hard that she later needed surgery to remove cysts. She also described how her stepfather once stubbed a cigarette out on her hand.

William Panton, acting for Briscoe's mother, told the jury: "It is not the suggestion that they are exaggerations of facts or incidents that happened during Miss Briscoe's childhood. The claimant's case is that these incidents did not happen but are fiction."

The case was adjourned yesterday, with jury members each being given a copy of the book to read.