Boy George was in court today for sentencing after he was convicted of, among other crimes, false imprisonment after it was proven last year that he unlawfully handcuffed a male escort and beat him with a metal chain during a “drug fueled” night of mayhem back in 2007. Boy George was sentenced to 15 months in prison and was treated to a very stern tongue-lashing from the judge who handed down his sentence. Here are a couple photos of Boy George as he arrived at court in the UK this morning to learn his fate:

Boy George was sentenced to 15 months jail today for handcuffing a male escort to a wall and beating him with a metal chain. The 47-year-old former Culture Club singer, whose real name is George O’Dowd, imprisoned Audun Carlsen during a drug-fuelled naked photoshoot at his London flat. Sentencing the musician at Snaresbrook Crown Court in East London, Judge David Radford told him he was guilty of “gratuitous violence”. The judge condemned his “premeditated, callous, and degrading drug-fuelled actions which traumatised” his victim. The judge added: “He was denied his dignity.” Blank-faced O’Dowd glanced briefly at family members in the public gallery, who gasped as his jail term was read out. There were emotional scenes outside court as family members and supporters of the pop star reacted to his sentence. One male family member kicked one of the courtroom doors, shouting: “Fifteen months!” Mr Carlsen, a 29-year-old Norwegian, fled in his underpants and alerted police after the attack in Shoreditch, East London, in April 2007. Violence had flared after O’Dowd accused Mr Carlsen of stealing photos of himself from a laptop, taken when the pair met three months earlier. O’Dowd has previous convictions for going equipped for theft as a juvenile in 1977, and a Class B drugs offence ten years later. In 2006, in New York, he was given community service after pleading guilty to falsely reporting a burglary at his apartment in the city. O’Dowd, who was convicted of false imprisonment last year, denied performing unprotected oral sex on Mr Carlsen as he sat naked in a chair during their first meeting. He had told police: “I’ve never slept with someone who is HIV positive.” The pair had made contact on the Gaydar website. According to prosecutor Heather Norton, their first meeting went well until the computer hacking accusation flared. They parted on good terms and O’Dowd paid the younger man £300 of the £400 they had agreed. In the weeks which followed, they exchanged e-mails in which the singer accused Mr Carlsen of hacking into his computer. But he eventually said that he wanted to see the younger man again. During the second meeting, things took a violent turn. After calling Mr Carlsen into his bedroom, O’Dowd and another man leapt on him, wrestled him to the floor and started beating him. O’Dowd, who did not give evidence in his defence, was screaming: “Fucking whore! Now you are going to get what you deserve.” Mr Carlsen was dragged along the floor towards O’Dowd’s bed and a manacle was put on his right hand and attached to a hook drilled in the wall. The second man left, Mr Carlsen said, and O’Dowd fetched a plastic box containing chains, sex toys and leather straps. Mr Carlsen told the court he was able to unscrew the hook from the wall using handcuffs as a tool. He ran to the door with O’Dowd pursuing him, lashing out with a metal chain. The victim managed to escape and ran out into the street screaming for help … Passing sentence, Judge Radford said: ‘Whilst I accept that Mr Carlsen’s physical injuries were not serious or permanent, in my view there can be no doubt that your premeditated callous and humiliating handcuffing and detention of Mr Carlsen shocked, degraded and traumatised him. “He was deprived of his liberty and human dignity without warning or proper explanation to him of its purpose, length or purported justification.” The judge also ordered O’Dowd to pay £5,000 costs … Returning to the details of the case, he added: “You assaulted the victim of this offense whom you had invited into your home by handcuffing him to your bed and inflicting on him additional wholly gratuitous violence beyond that needed merely to secure physical restraint and detention.”

At last this long, sad saga is finally finished. Honestly, I never thought the case would get to this level … there was so much delay in prosecuting Boy George for this crime that I figured he’d walk away with a slap on the wrists. I cannot fully understand why George‘s family is so upset with this sentence. You do the crime, you do the time. I sincerely hope that Boy George is able to use his time in prison to his advantage and makes serious effort to clean up his act.

[Source]