Boy George 'chained up male escort'

The 46-year-old pop star and DJ chained Audun Carlsen up in his home in Shoreditch, east London.

The singer - being tried under his real name of George O'Dowd - made contact with the 29-year-old on the Gaydar website, London's Snaresbrook Crown Court heard. He denies a charge of false imprisonment.

The pair arranged to meet for a pornographic photo shoot during which they took cocaine and O'Dowd performed a sex act on the young escort.

The court heard from prosecuting barrister Heather Norton that the meeting seemed to be going well until O'Dowd started to suspect Carlsen of hacking into his computer.

But they parted on good terms and the singer paid the younger man £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. The pair also disagreed over the naked pictures and O'Dowd ranted about people taking advantage of his trusting nature.

But in later emails they agreed to meet for a second time.

It was during this encounter, the court heard, that O'Dowd seemed to "take matters into his own hands" and chained up the young man.

Ms Norton said the jury would have to decide whether the singer really meant to hurt the younger man and why he locked him up.