BOY GEORGE was warned that he faced jail yesterday after he was found guilty of falsely imprisoning a man by handcuffing him to a wall after accusing him of tampering with his computer.
The 47-year-old singer and DJ, who was tried under his real name George O’Dowd, was found guilty of attacking Audun Carlsen (29), a Norwegian male escort, at his flat in London in April. The former Culture Club singer lured Carlsen into his bedroom after a naked photo session, in which the two had taken cocaine, and ambushed him with an unnamed man.
Carlsen told a London court during the two-week trial that everything had appeared fine but the atmosphere had changed when O’Dowd returned to the flat after ostensibly popping out to buy milk and cigarettes. The escort said he was held and beaten by the singer, who told him “now you’re going to get what you deserve”, before being dragged on to the bed and handcuffed to a wall fixture.
Carlsen told the jury that he was left “shaking and frightened” when O’Dowd returned to the room with a box of leather straps, chains and sex toys, saying “now you’re going to get it”. He said he escaped after wrenching the fixture free. He said he was beaten with a chain by the singer as he fled into the street.
The two had met in January after O’Dowd approached Carlsen on the dating website Gaydar and hired him as a photographic model. During their first meeting – where Carlsen claimed O’Dowd had briefly given him oral sex – O’Dowd accused Carlsen of tampering with his computer. Carlsen said he seemed “wired” from cocaine and said he left the flat with £300 (€344).
Heather Norton, for the prosecution, said O’Dowd told police: “I wanted to find out if he was the person [who tampered with the computer].” O’Dowd bombarded the escort with “bizarre” and menacing e-mails accusing him of hacking into the computer, but later apologised, saying he wanted to spank Carlsen and asked for a second meeting.
O’Dowd did not give evidence but told police: “I asked him to come [back to the 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.” He denied punching Carlsen or swinging a chain at him, claiming that red welts on Carlsen could have been because he was HIV positive.
In an apparently accidental allusion to one of Culture Club’s best-known lyrics, Norton asked the jury during the trial, “Did he really have to hurt him?” Judge David Radford told the court in east London: “This is a case where custody is the more likely option. The fact that your bail is being continued does not imply that this will be dealt with by a non-custodial sentence.” – (Guardian service)