A FORMER underworld figure with ties to Elles- mere Port is to unveil his autobiography at Cheshire Oaks.

Norman Johnson, who co- wrote the book with Michael O’Rourke, will be signing copies at Borders Books from noon on Sun- day, August 17.

Entitled Black Eyes and Blue Blood: The Amazing Life and Times of Gangster ‘Scouse’ Norman Johnson, the paperback documents Mr Johnson’s foray into London’s gangland in the early 1950s after growing up in Liverpool.

It also details his acceptance into one of the top New York Mafia crime families on relocating there in the 1970s, his affair with a Middle Eastern princess in the early 1980s and name-checks notorious crime figures including the Krays and Richardsons.

Nowadays 75-year-old Mr Johnson lives in Stafford and dates Joan Walker, 62, who lives on the Stanney estate in Ellesmere Port.

Miss Walker said: “I’ve known Norman about 40 years as we are both from Liverpool. We kept in touch over the years and have always been friends. When he was in prison or in London I used to visit him.

“Over the last 10 years we got in touch again through friends. He was divorced and I was on my own, so now I’m his girlfriend.

“We spend time together and go on holidays and he comes up to Ellesmere Port at weekends or I go to Stafford to see him.”

Mainstream Publishing releases Black Eyes and Blue Blood tomorrow (Thursday) at £9.99.