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Boy George jailed for imprisoning male escort

by Paul Conneally | January 16, 2009 at 07:15 am

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"Do you really want to hurt me?" sweetly sang Boy George in his first big hit with 80s pop group Culture Club in a video that starts with him in court pleading from dock, but today he left the dock to go to prison for 15 months for imprisoning a male escort, locking him to a bed and hurting him with a chain.

The Karma Chameleon looked worn and haggard when he entered the court in a dark duffel coat and fans were shocked at the length of sentence, that Boy George (real name George O'Dowd) received.

O'Dowd was found guilty of the crime in December and has had to wait until today to be sentenced.

The conviction means he will probably never be allowed to visit or perform again in the USA or Japan where he still has many fans.

Singer Boy George, who was convicted of falsely imprisoning a male escort in his flat in Shoreditch, east London, has been jailed for 15 months.

The singer, whose real name is George O'Dowd, denied the charge and claimed the victim, Norwegian Audun Carlsen, 29, had stolen photos from his laptop.

O'Dowd, 47, admitted handcuffing him to a wall in April 2007 but said he did so in order to trace the missing property.

Judge David Radford told the singer he was guilty of "gratuitous violence".

The Eighties pop star Boy George was sentenced to 15 months in jail today for violently imprisoning a Norwegian male escort at his flat.

The musician – whose real name is George O’Dowd – was found guilty of false imprisonment for chaining Audun Carlsen to his bed in Shoreditch, East London in April 2007 and beating him with the help of another man.

Today a judge told the star, who was wearing a black duffel coat and hooded top, that he carried out a "shocking and degrading" attack, which deprived Mr Carlsen of his liberty.