Boy George sentenced to 15 months in jail

monkey9

Former Culture Club frontman Boy George was sentenced today to 15 months in jail after being found guilty last month of falsely imprisoning Norwegian male escort Audun Carlsen, whom he met over the Internet.

Tried under his real name George O'Dowd, the 47-year-old Briton denied a charge of false imprisonment at his London flat in April, 2007. After the jury ruled against him, judge David Radford had warned him that he faced a prison term.

However, the length of the sentence was a surprise as lawyers had expected a jail term of around three months.

"This offence is so serious that only an immediate sentence of imprisonment can be justified for it," Radford said.

"Taking into account the aggravating and such mitigating factors as there are, the sentence of the court is one of 15 months imprisonment."

O'Dowd remained calm as he stood in the dock, but the verdict clearly shocked friends and family, some of whom burst into tears.

The singer had told police he had invited Mr Carlsen back to his home after a cocaine-fuelled pornographic photo shoot in January, 2007, because he suspected the Norwegian of stealing pictures from his computer.

During the two-week trial, Mr 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.

Snaresbrook Court in east London 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 a distinctive voice and androgynous image, and Culture Club topped the charts with hits like Karma Chameleonand 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.

His lawyer said it was likely that he would spend six or seven months behind bars, and declined to say whether O'Dowd would launch an appeal.




I'd say he'll be entering jail with plenty of bars of soap in his bag!!

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

monkey9 wrote: »

I'd say he'll be entering jail with plenty of bars of soap in his bag!!

do you really want to hurt him?

Mingey

If he was wearing bondage, then perhaps he wanted to be beaten? Maybe he was into S&M, how would you investigate it?

admiralofthefleet

i bet there will be plenty of times where he will drop the soap

Heroditas

monkey9 wrote: »

with hits like Karma Chameleonand Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?

It appears he did

ejmaztec

They should have given him a life-sentence in the 70s so that we would never have heard his sh1t music in the first place.

They think it's all over. It is now

themadchef

Everyday is like survival surrviiiiiiival

It's probably best he does'nt sing "Do you really wanna hurt me" in prison:pac:

Robbo

Surely Boy George could have spun the "chaining him to the radiator" business as some harmless Terry Waite themed roleplay?

sceptre

Mingey wrote: »

If he was wearing bondage, then perhaps he wanted to be beaten? Maybe he was into S&M, how would you investigate it?

I suspect that's a rather simplistic analysis but to deal with the question, the R v Brown case (1993) and the later ECHR appeal (Laskey, Jaggard & Brown v United Kingdom (1999)) mean that legally it doesn't matter - in the UK one can't legally give consent to an act causing serious bodily harm.

Whether you agree or not with the rulings in those cases (I assume every law student has an opinion, it's one of the first things thrown at them in criminal law), legally it doesn't matter even if there was explicit consent given - and obviously that was disputed. I can only assume that Boy George's lawyer tried to use it as a factor in trying to get the sentence reduced or just for PR purposes as it's not a defence any UK court would currently be interested in and even a crappy lawyer would know that.

nevaeh-2die-4

gay..............prsion= sex fest !!!

danindublin

I'm just shocked that someone would pay to have sex with this :

Probably chained him to the radiator while looking for a refund!

JP Liz

given his real name - has he Irish connections?

danindublin

JP Liz wrote: »

given his real name - has he Irish connections?

Ya his family are from near me in Co Tipperary

Trouble2008

I would bet €50 that he won't serve the 15months... The judicial system is a farce! Celebs seem to get away with everything!

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Trouble 2008 wrote:

I would bet €50 that he won't serve the 15months... The judicial system is a farce! Celebs seem to get away with everything!

Possibly true, but then anyone in that position wouldn;t serve he full 15 months. Beisdes, it's a strong sentence in the first place. Ordinary people have gotten less for doing worse.