Boy George 'too fat to have won fight with 6ft male escort'

Boy George was too fat to have attacked a male escort in his flat, according to his own lawyer.

The Culture Club singer has gained so much weight since his Eighties heyday that he would not have stood a chance in a fight against his alleged victim Audun Carlsen, Adrian Waterman QC told Snaresbrook crown court.

The DJ and former pop star, appearing in court under his real name George O'Dowd, is accused of handcuffing the six-foot tall, wiry male escort to a hook above his bed and then beating him with a chain. The alleged attack took place after an erotic photo shoot by the pair at O'Dowd's Shoreditch home in April last year.

Mr Waterman told the jury: "With the greatest of respect to George O'Dowd, he is not someone you could describe as terribly fit.

"He has put on a few pounds since the 1980s. He is not going to be a match for Audun Carlsen." Mr Waterman said O'Dowd, 47, admits to handcuffing Mr Carlsen but claims he did not break the law because he thought the escort had been tampering with his laptop.

Mr Waterman said: "There has never been any doubt that George O'Dowd did handcuff Audun Carlsen to that eyehole.

"He did imprison him, he detained him. The issue in the case is whether in law he has a lawful excuse."

Mr Waterman claims O'Dowd was allowed to do what he did to investigate his belief that Mr Carlsen had uploaded erotic photographs of himself taken by George from the singer's laptop to his own Gaydar profile page.

Mr Carlsen claimed that after handcuffing him, O'Dowd produced leather bondage straps and chains and threatened him, saying "Now you are going to get it." But Mr Carlsen struggled free and as he fled the flat in Ravey Street, O'Dowd hit him with a chain.

Mr Waterman said Mr Carlsen's account of the incident was riddled with inconsistencies that were exposed by expert evidence.

A pathologist said Carlsen's injuries were unlikely to be down to punches and chains and were probably caused by the bondage photoshoot.

Computer records showed the Norwegian escort was likely to have used O'Dowd's computer, which he originally denied but changed his story when confronted with the expert evidence.

Mr Carlsen "twisted and turned" as he gave evidence, said Mr Waterman. "Either he is lying to you or he does not know what reality is," he added.

"You would not want to bet your life on Mr Carlsen's account."

O'Dowd denies one count of false imprisonment.

The trial continues.