WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange denounced an unauthorised autobiography as it hit bookshops in Britain yesterday, after he failed to prevent the publisher printing an unfinished manuscript.

Julian Assange: The Unauthorised Autobiography is the result of more than 50 hours of interviews between Mr Assange and a ghost writer that was handed over to British publisher Canongate in March.

The company admitted Mr Assange had tried to stop the publication but said they were proud to publish the “passionate, provocative and opinionated” book. In a lengthy, furious statement issued late Wednesday, Mr Assange accused Canongate of acting in breach of contract and personal assurances that it would not publish the manuscript.“This book was meant to be about my life’s struggle for justice through access to knowledge. It has turned into something else,” said the 40-year-old former computer hacker.

“The events surrounding its unauthorised publication by Canongate are not about freedom of information. They are about old-fashioned opportunism and duplicity – screwing people over to make a buck.”

The book contains the Australian’s first direct comments on the allegations of rape and sexual assault made against him by two women in Sweden in August last year, which have left him fighting extradition from Britain.

He also describes the thrill of hacking computers and his pride in publishing secret official information, and condemns the “apathy” of the mainstream press in holding governments and institutions to account.