Boy George: A real life chameleon

In the dock George O’Dowd came across as a lonely, paranoid man struggling to find his place in the world. His 1980s heyday is a long way behind him, after all.

He was described as an artist by his counsel, but instead the court was given a picture of a life spent trawling the Gaydar social networking site to find men willing to be photographed nude in all night “fashion shoots”.

And for someone who won his place in the nation’s affections by being an arch performer, it was odd that he chose not to give evidence in his own defense. Perhaps it was because his sharp wit has landed him in trouble so many times in the past, earning him a media reputation as a bitch for public spats with Elton John, among others.

His lawyer, Adrian Waterman QC, put a different spin on it: “This is not about performance, it’s about his life, and it’s about being charged with a criminal offence.” A criminal offence of which he has now been convicted.

Of course, it was not his first brush with the law. In 2006 he was found guilty of wasting police time by falsely reporting a burglary at his New York apartment.

Cocaine was found in the fat and he was arrested, but the drug charge was dropped and he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of wasting police time. He was ordered to spend five days sweeping the streets of New York as a punishment.

Drugs have been a consistent theme with Boy George.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard how he took cocaine with Auden Carlson, the man he was found guilty of imprisoning, although press interviews he gave in late summer and autumn prior to the trial suggested he was clean.

At the height of his success with Culture Club he began using heroin, and indeed, the band’s keyboard player Michael Rude ski, died of an overdose in George’s home.