LONDON – Singer Boy George was sentenced to 15 months in jail on Friday after being convicted of falsely imprisoning a male escort by handcuffing him to a wall in his London apartment.Judge David Radford said the 47-year-old former Culture Club frontman, whose real name is George O'Dowd, was guilty of "gratuitous violence."
O'Dowd's lawyer said his client and the escort had both behaved like "drug-crazed idiots" and that O'Dowd's substance abuse problems were a contributing factor.
The singer had been convicted in December of handcuffing Norwegian escort Audun Carlsen to a wall hook at his East London apartment. During the trial, prosecutors said Carlsen was held by O'Dowd for under an hour.
The singer denied the charge, saying he had restrained Carlsen with handcuffs while trying to figure out if his computer had been tampered with. Carlsen, 29, said he didn't touch the computer and that O'Dowd swung at him a number of times.
