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Freedom: Boy George gives a salute after he is released from jail for good behaviour

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:46 AM on 11th May 2009

Boy George beams with delight after his early release from prison for assaulting a rent boy.

The Eighties pop star, real name George O'Dowd, was thrilled to be let out today after only serving four months of his 15 month sentence.

The former Culture Club frontman was jailed on January 16 after being convicted of the false imprisonment and assault of male prostitute Audun Carlsen.

After initially being sent to Pentonville Prison in north London, O'Dowd was later transferred to Edmunds Hill Prison in Suffolk, where he remained until his release this morning.

Dressed in a black zip-up top, the bald singer smiler and saluted to photographers as he experienced freedom for the first time in months.

Despite having grown a beard during his sentence, the only physical change evident in O'Dowd was his visual tiredness.

The 47-year-old was given permission for early release for good behaviour, but will

Tired: A beaming Boy George looked exhausted following his three month stint behind bars

The DJ will be expected to report regularly to his probation officer.

The Karma Chameleon singer was found guilty of thrashing Carlsen with a chain as he was shackled to a wall in the star's Shoreditch flat in April 2007.

The judge accused O'Dowd of 'gratuitous violence' when he sentenced him in January.

The 29-year-old Norwegian managed to free himself and fled in his underpants into the street, screaming for help.

Condemning his 'premeditated', 'callous' and drug-fuelled frenzy which 'traumatised' Mr Carlsen, the judge said his victim had been 'deprived of his liberty and his human dignity'.

He said the offence was 'so serious that only an immediate sentence of imprisonment can be justified'.

O'Dowd's own barrister admitted that his client's career had hit rock bottom and likened the behaviour of the two men to 'two drug-crazed idiots'.

The singer, who has battled drug addictions, has repeatedly denied swinging the chain at the younger man.

He did not give evidence in court - his brother David O'Dowd said it was because he did not want to cause further upset to his elderly mother.

At the height of O'Dowd's fame in the Eighties, he sold over 25million records worldwide with his group the Culture Club.

In the Nineties, he made his name again as a successful DJ and also launched his own fashion range B.Rude.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1180468/Freedom-Boy-George-gives-salute-released-jail-good-behaviour.html

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