Boy George sentenced to 15 months in jail

LONDON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- British pop star Boy George was sentenced Friday to 15 months in prison for holding a Norwegian male escort against his will in a London apartment.

The 47-year-old former Culture Club frontman, whose real name is George O'Dowd, was convicted of false imprisonment last month for jumping on, dragging across the floor and handcuffing to a wall 29-year-old Audun Carlsen. O'Dowd reportedly had an accomplice for the beginning of the 2007 altercation, but he left after Carlsen was manacled and has not yet been identified.

Carlsen was eventually able to free himself and ran out of the apartment in his underwear with the chain-wielding, cocaine-crazed O'Dowd chasing after him, the court heard.

The incident reportedly occurred after O'Dowd accused Carlsen of stealing sexy photos O'Dowd had taken of him from O'Dowd's laptop computer during a prior meeting.

"While I accept that Mr. Carlsen's physical injuries were not serious or permanent, in my view there can be no doubt that your pre-meditated, callous and humiliating handcuffing and detention of Mr. Carlsen shocked, degraded and traumatized him," The Times of London quoted Judge David Radford as telling the singer at his sentencing Friday. "He was deprived of his liberty and his human dignity without warning or proper explanation to him of its purpose, length or purported justification."

"George is on the road to recovery. I sincerely hope this sentence does not knock him back," O'Dowd's attorney Steven Barker told The Times.