Boy George

 

Performs At Le Pigalle Club

 

 

 

 

 

LONDON - DECEMBER 16: Boy George performs at the Pigalle Club on December 16, 2008 in London, England. (Photo by Samir Hussein/Getty Images)

British singer Boy George performs onstage at Le Pigalle Club in central London, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008. The former Culture Club frontman, was convicted earlier this month of falsely imprisoning a male escort. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 16, 2009.

More pictures on http://www.gettyimages.com

Boy George announces gigs despite facing jail time

Singer will play two shows next week (Dec 16-17)

• Dec 8, 2008

 

Boy George has announced he will play two shows next week at the Pigalle Club in London - despite been warned that he faces jail after being found guilty of falsely imprisoning and beating a man in his east London home.

The gigs will take place on December 16 and 17, with the singer promising "very special guests" for the second show.

Standing tickets are on sale now, priced £25, while a dinner and show package is £95.

Boy George tickets:

• Dec 16, 2008 at The Pigalle Club, London - Check availability

http://www.nme.com/news/boy-george/41523

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Boy George guilty of falsely imprisoning male escort

Singer's claims that escort had tampered with his computer not enough to prevent guilty verdict

George O'Dowd outside Snaresbrook crown court. Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA

Boy George faces a possible jail term after being convicted of falsely imprisoning a male escort.

The jury returned a guilty verdict today after two days of deliberations.

During the trial, Snaresbrook crown court heard that the 46-year-old admitted to police he handcuffed Audun Carlsen, 29, to the wall at his flat in Shoreditch, east London, on April 28 last year while he investigated alleged tampering with his computer.

The singer, who was tried under his real name, George O'Dowd, accused Carlsen of taking photos from the laptop that were shot by O'Dowd three months earlier when the pair first met.

He denied punching or assaulting Carlsen, a Norwegian, or swinging a metal chain at the escort as he fled the flat after a naked photo shoot. He suggested to police that the bruises Carlsen had sustained could have been due to HIV.

The court was shown photographs of deep red welts on Carlsen's head and injuries to his arm, all of which he said had been inflicted by O'Dowd.

O'Dowd said in his interview with police that he could not account for the injuries. He did not give evidence during the trial and denied one count of false imprisonment.

He looked grim as the foreman of the jury delivered the verdict. He spoke only to confirm that he understood the new condition of his bail – that he live and sleep at an address that was tendered on a piece of paper.

The judge, David Radford, called for a pre-sentence report. He said: "This is a case where custody is the more likely option."

He told O'Dowd: "The fact that your bail is being continued does not imply that this will be dealt with by a non-custodial sentence. I don't want any false expectations created."

The judge was told O'Dowd had previous convictions for going equipped for theft as a juvenile in 1977, and for a class B drugs arrest 10 years later. He had been accused of wasting police time in New York recently.

The singer is due to be sentenced on January 16. He left the court without speaking to waiting reporters.

During the trial, his defence barrister, Adrian Waterman QC, told the jury in his closing statement that the argument was whether Carlsen had stolen photographs and "in doing that, messed up George O'Dowd's computer".

He said the suggestion that the singer had concocted the story about computer tampering because Carlsen refused to have sex with O'Dowd during their first meeting was "entire fantasy or a lie".

Carlsen told the jury that O'Dowd performed unprotected oral sex on him for five seconds at their first meeting while the escort sat naked in a chair.

O'Dowd told police he was annoyed about that claim, saying: "I'd never have slept with someone who is HIV-positive."

The pair made contact on Gaydar, a social networking website primarily for gay and bisexual men.

The prosecuting barrister, Heather Norton, said the men's first meeting seemed to be going well until the singer began to suspect Carlsen of hacking into his computer.

They parted on good terms and the singer paid Carlsen £300 of the £400 they had agreed.

In the weeks that followed they exchanged emails in which the singer accused Carlsen of breaking into his computer system.

In later emails the singer said he would be "perfectly happy to see you naked asap". He referred to Carlsen's "heavenly butt" and eventually they agreed to meet for a second time.

Carlsen said that during their second meeting things took a violent turn. After calling Carlsen into his bedroom, O'Dowd and another man leapt on him, wrestled him to the floor and started beating him.

He told the court that during the attack O'Dowd screamed: "Fucking whore! Now you're going to get what you deserve."

He told the court that he was dragged along the floor towards the bed and a manacle was put on his right hand and attached to a hook drilled into the wall.

After the second man left, Carlsen told the court, O'Dowd brought out a plastic box containing chains, sex toys and leather straps.

Carlsen said he used the handcuffs as a tool to unscrew the hook from the wall. He ran to the door with O'Dowd lashing out at him with a metal chain.

He managed to escape and ran out on to the street wearing only underwear screaming for help.

O'Dowd 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."

He said Carlsen "struggled a bit" when he was handcuffing him "because he realised I wasn't messing around".

"I didn't tell him the reason I was doing what I was doing. I said I just wanted to check something. He was saying 'let me go'."

He denied to police he had called Carlsen a whore, saying: "My boyfriend is an escort. Why would I call him a whore?

"If I was going to beat him up, I would have got my friend to beat him up with me, if I was going to do anything that vile."

Angela Balakrishnan

Boy George found guilty

Singer Boy George has been convicted of falsely imprisoning a male escort, and could face jail.

Norwegian Audun Carlsen, 29, said the musician beat him with a metal chain as he tried to escape from his flat after a naked photo shoot.

A jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court found that the case against the 46-year-old musician - being tried under his real name of George O'Dowd - had been made.

Mr Carlsen said George and another man leapt on him, wrestled him to the floor and started beating him.

He told the court that during the attack George was screaming "F****** w***e! Now you're going to get what you deserve".

He told the court that George dragged him along the floor towards the bed and a manacle was put on his right hand and attached to a hook drilled in the wall - but that he managed to escape and call for help.

The star did not give evidence but the court heard he told police he handcuffed Mr Carlsen to his bed at his flat in Shoreditch, east London, in April last year while he investigated alleged tampering with his computer.

The prosecution said the pair made contact on the Gaydar website, a social networking site primarily for gay and bisexual men.

The case was adjourned for sentence on January 16 and the judge said that a prison sentence for George was likely.

http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=11617302

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