Boy George sentenced to 15 months in prison

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Singer Boy George has been sent to jail for falsely imprisoning a male prostitute in his east London flat.

The judge at Snaresbrook Crown Court said the star, real name George O’Dowd, has used “gratuitous violence.”

He was convicted last month of false imprisonment by a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court on December 5th but was bailed to await sentence.

O’Dowd denied the charges but chose not to give evidence in his own defence.

Audun Carlsen, a 29 year old sex worker, told the court of his ordeal at the hands of O’Dowd.

He met the star on the dating website Gaydar in 2007 and agreed to go to his flat in London’s Shoreditch late one night for a “photo session.”

In the following months the pop star sent the prostitute a series of messages on Gaydar and eventually arranged to meet again.

On April 28th Carlsen returned to the apartment.

He was confronted by O’Dowd and another man.

He was attacked, dragged across the floor by O’Dowd, handcuffed to a wall by the bed at the Culture Club singer’s east London flat and beaten with a chain, until he managed to flee.

O’Dowd was angry because he believed Carlsen had tampered with his computer.

He told the court O’Dowd was screaming “F****** whore! Now you’re going to get what you deserve”.

The pop star told police:

“I asked him to come (back to my flat) because I wanted to find out if this guy had borrowed my stuff.

“I got a friend there because I wanted to make sure he didn’t leave so I could check the computer and his phone. The friend was just there in case he tried to stab me or take a hammer to me.”

Passing sentence Judge David Radford ssaid that “premeditated callous and humiliating” way he treated his victim had left the sex worker “shocked, degraded and traumatised.” and had deprived him of his liberty and “human dignity.”

Last year George completed five days of community service in New York after being convicted of false reporting of an incident.

He claimed he had been robbed, but when police arrived to investigate they found a large quantity of cocaine in his flat.

He also has a 1977 juvenile conviction for going equipped for theft.

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