Jeremy Meeks, the American model who gained fame as the 'world's hottest felon' after his 2014 mugshot went viral, has been denied entry to the United Kingdom. The 32-year-old was detained at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday after flying in from the United States for work purposes.
UK border officials refused him entry under immigration rules that bar individuals sentenced to jail terms of 12 months to four years from entering the country for up to a decade after their sentence ends. Meeks served nearly three years for firearm possession, released last year, and had previously served a nine-year sentence for theft from 2002 to 2011.
His manager, Jim Jordan, told the Daily Mail that Meeks had appropriate paperwork and a letter from his parole officer. 'We went into the UK and we went through immigration and they detained Jeremy,' Jordan said. 'He wasn't arrested but they deported him out of the country. He is really upset. He was police-escorted on to the plane.'
The Home Office confirmed awareness of the incident but declined to comment on individual cases. Meeks and his wife Melissa had been scheduled to attend a party in London on Thursday celebrating his first cover shoot for British magazine Man About Town.
Since his release, Meeks has signed with White Cross Management and made his runway debut at New York Fashion Week in February. His mugshot, posted by Stockton Police Department on Facebook in 2014, has garnered 101,000 likes and over 12,600 shares.
