LONDON - Boy George could be jailed next month for falsely imprisoning a Norwegian male escort by handcuffing him to a wall, a judge said.
Judge David Radford said a prison term was "the more likely option" when he sentenced the 47-year-old former Culture Club frontman on January
16. The singer was found guilty on Friday.
Tried under his real name George O'Dowd, he had denied falsely imprisoning Audun Carlsen, 29, at his flat in April last year, the Press Association reported.
"The fact that your bail is being continued does not imply that this will be dealt with by a non-custodial sentence," Radford told Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London. "I don't want any false expectations created."
O'Dowd told police he had invited Carlsen to his home after a cocaine-fuelled pornographic photo shoot in January because he suspected the Norwegian of stealing pictures from his computer.
During the two-week trial, Carlsen countered that the singer had handcuffed him to a wall and beaten him with a chain because he was angry he had refused to sleep with him when they first met.
O'Dowd did not give evidence during the trial. The court heard Carlsen describe how he sustained injuries during their meeting in April, 2007, from being beaten and handcuffed.
O'Dowd's lawyer said the injuries were consistent with bondage gear the Norwegian had worn.
The singer shot to fame in the 1980s, thanks to his distinctive voice and androgynous image, and Culture Club topped the charts with hits like Karma Chameleon and Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
But he has struggled with drug problems, and in 2006 was sentenced to do community service in New York after admitting to falsely reporting a burglary. Police responding to his call found 13 bags of cocaine in his apartment.
- REUTERS
