The man dubbed “jail bae”, the “blue eyed bandit” and the “hottest convict ever” was reportedly deported from the UK just hours after landing at Heathrow yesterday morning.
Jeremy Meeks, 32, from Stockton, California, became an internet sensation and sparked thousands of memes when police posted his mugshot online in 2014. He had been arrested for gun charges and was released from jail in March 2016, after which he soon signed a modelling contract with White Cross Management.
Meeks had been due to spend this week in London shooting a series of magazine covers, his manager Jim Jordan told MailOnline. But after arriving in London on Monday he was detained by border officials and refused entry to the country.
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Jordan insisted that Meeks had the correct paperwork, the correct visa for the trip and a supporting letter from his parole officer, but he was put on a plane back to New York and landed on Monday night.
“We went into the UK and we went through immigration and they detained Jeremy,” Jordan told MailOnline. "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.”
In a video shot by Meeks, obtained by MailOnline, the model refers to his “escort” and says: “London don’t want me here having served my time. S*** is crazy.”
Jordan and Meeks’ wife Melissa reportedly spent five hours waiting for him in an airport restaurant before they were told he was being flown back to the US.
Meeks told Jordan that border officials interrogated him for four hours, “took a shit ton of pictures of him”, strip-searched him, fingerprinted him and “locked him in a small room for hours”.
Jordan said he will seek help from the US Embassy in London and ensure that Melissa can continue her UK trip. “[This was] the very first thing that Jeremy has done. It was his first time in London and he was all excited. It was his big debut,” Jordan added.
“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.”