US model Jeremy Meeks, who was dubbed the “hot felon” after his prison mugshot went viral in 2014, has purportedly been deported from the UK less than eight hours after landing in London, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.
Meeks’ manager Jim Jordan told DailyMail.com that the convict-turned-model had been due to shoot a series of magazine covers in the capital but had been detained by border officials and sent back to the US.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Jordan said: “We went into the UK and we went through immigration and they detained Jeremy.
“He wasn’t arrested but they deported him out of the country. They wouldn’t let him come into the country. He is really upset. He was police-escorted onto the plane.”
Jordan claims Meeks’ had the necessary paperwork to enter the country, including a letter supplied by his parole officer.
The 32-year-old rose to fame as an Internet sensation in 2014 when California’s Stockton Police Department posted his mugshot on their website after his arrest for gang-related activities.
The mugshot went viral around the world and besotted social media fans dubbed him the “hot felon.”
Meeks was released from prison in March 2016 and went on to walk at the Phillip Plein show during New York Fashion Week in February 2017.
Jordan told DailyMail.com: “They strip-searched him, they fingerprinted him. They locked him in a small room for hours. They took his passport from him, they didn’t give him his passport back.
“He was on the right track for what we feel was going to be his new life. Now he’s very sad. Hopefully this is just a setback and he will be able to come back from this.”