Boy George won't give evidence in male escort case

LONDON (Reuters) - Singer Boy George will not give evidence at a trial where he is accused of falsely imprisoning a Norwegian male escort by handcuffing him to a wall, his lawyer told Snaresbrook Crown Court in London on Tuesday.

The 47-year-old, being tried under his real name George O'Dowd, denies falsely imprisoning Audun Carlsen at his flat in April last year.

The former Culture Club frontman says he asked Carlsen back after a pornographic photo shoot in January because he suspected him of stealing pictures from his computer.

Carlsen says George handcuffed him to a wall and beat him with a chain because he was angry that he refused to sleep with him when they first met in January.

When judge David Radford asked O'Dowd's lawyer Adrian Waterman whether his client would be called to give evidence, Waterman replied: "No," the Press Association reported.

Carlsen has told the court how injuries he sustained in April, 2007, were because he was forcibly handcuffed and beaten. George counters that the injuries were consistent with bondage gear he had worn.

Waterman asked Home Office pathologist Ashley Fegan-Earl whether items like chains and straps, which the jury heard were in the flat on the night in question, might explain a wound to Mr Carlsen's left forearm.

"You describe a variety of objects there. The one that comes to mind immediately is a collar with studs," the pathologist replied.

"An object such as that would be consistent with producing such an injury because the nature of the injury is a laceration, a split in the skin, but also a puncture wound."

Fegan-Earl told the court that he could not see any injury to Carlsen's face, and suggested at the very most "there may be a degree of puffiness below the lower eyelids."

Waterman asked if any swelling could be explained by the evidence that Carlsen had taken cocaine, had not slept all night and had worn make-up and glitter on his face.

"Yes, I think all of those are plausible explanations," Fegan-Earl said. The case continues.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

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