Singer Boy George has been found guilty of falsely imprisoning a male escort last year in his east London flat by a jury at a London court and is looking at possible jail time.

Boy George’s trial on false imprisonment charges has ended sourly for the former 1980s Culture Club singer. A jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London found on Friday that the 46-year-old, tried under his real name of George O’Dowd, was guilty. He will be sentenced on January 16 and O’Dowd has six weeks of nail biting ahead of him as Judge David Radford warned him that prison was a viable outcome.

O’Dowd, who was present when the verdict was delivered, is free on bail. Judge Radford specified that continued bail “does not imply that this will be dealt with by a non-custodial sentence,” as quoted by the BBC. He added that he wanted no false expectations to exist.

O’Dowd did not give evidence himself during the trial. The jurors did listen to a tape recording of a police interview, in which the singer admitted to having handcuffed the male escort to his bed, in his east London flat, while he checked his laptop.

Norwegian Audun Carlsen, 29, said O’Dowd handcuffed him and beat him with a metal chain as he tried to flee the apartment.

The two men became acquainted over the Internet and agreed to get together for a pornographic photo shoot. The first meeting apparently included O’Dowd spanking Carlsen but only with the latter’s consent.

The second meeting was less pleasant, as O’Dowd suspected that Carlsen had hacked into his computer, stealing nude photos of the singer. Once in his flat, O’Dowd handcuffed the male escort to his bed so he could check his computer. The singer strongly denied assaulting Carlsen and could be heard commenting on the police tape, “I certainly wasn’t going to kill him, that’s hardly going to do my career any good is it?”

The singer described Carlsen as “lying” and “smug,” referring to a phone conversation the two had had before meeting for a second time at his flat.

Carlsen on the other hand told the court he suspected O’Dowd was frustrated and angry because they had not had sex during the first meeting and invented the computer tampering story so he could punish Carlsen.

The doctor who examined Carlsen after he fled the singer’s flat testified that the Norwegian man had injuries, including a cut on his left forearm and bruises on the back of his head and on his right arm. O’Dowd’s lawyer countered these were consistent with the bondage gear worn by Carlsen.

O’Dowd maintains he did not assault Carlsen and denies the false imprisonment charge.

The musician is best known for his success in the 1980s with Culture Club and songs such as “Karma Chameleon” and “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me.”

He has had legal problems in recent years, including court-ordered community service in 2006 sweeping the streets of New York (in the eager company of paparazzi).