(London) A trial began in London on Monday for singer/DJ Boy George on charges he shackled a male escort, chained him up, and assaulted him.

The prosecutor told the court on Monday that O’Dowd, 47, met 29-year-old Audun Carlsen on a gay internet site and agreed to meet at the singer’s home where Carlsen was to pose for a naked photo shoot.

Prosecutor Heather Norton said that the two men then agreed to a second photo shoot in April last year.

After O’Dowd had taken several photos of Carlsen, the performer invited the younger man into his bedroom.

When Carlsen entered the room he realized a second man had joined O’Dowd.  O’Dowd has refused to name the other man, Norton told the court.

“The two men grabbed Mr Carlsen and forced him, we say, to the floor,” Norton said.

“Mr O’Dowd produced a set of handcuffs. They placed one end on Mr Carlsen’s right wrist and the other end was placed through a hook that was screwed to a fixture near the bed.”

She told the jury that Carlsen, “was frightened, shaking and crying. His fear increased when Mr O’Dowd returned into the room carrying with him a box.”

The box, said Norton, contained chains and leather straps.

Carlsen managed to free himself by pulling a hook the handcuffs were attached to from the wall.  He escaped through a window clad in only his underwear and called police from a local news vendor’s stand.

O’Dowd has pleaded not guilty.  It is the latest brush he has had with the law.

In 2006, a judge in New York City sentenced him to five days of community service after being convicted of filing a false police report.

The singer had called police in October 2005 with a bogus report of a burglary by a male prostitute at his lower Manhattan apartment. When police went to investigate they found cocaine inside.

He was originally charged with drug offenses but under an agreement with prosecutors he pleaded guilty to the lesser charges and worked off his sentence picking garbage.