Jeremy Meeks, once dubbed the "hottest criminal in the world", has been prevented from entering the UK.

The model, who became a viral sensation in 2014 when his mug shot was posted online, tried to enter the country for work purposes.

UK border officials detained him on Tuesday at Heathrow Airport after he'd flown in from America.

The 32-year-old was released from jail last year after serving nearly three years for possession of a firearm.

The Home Office has told Newsbeat that it is aware of the incident at London's Heathrow Airport but says it can't comment on individual cases.

However, paragraph 320 of the UK's immigration rules says border control officials can refuse entry to the UK to anyone who has been sentenced to a jail term of between 12 months and four years, until 10 years after the sentence has ended.

That's among other rules preventing entry to the UK for people who have been jailed for crimes overseas.

As well as doing time for possession of a firearm, he'd previously served a nine-year jail sentence for theft from 2002 to 2011.

Jeremy's manager Jim Jordan told the Daily Mail that the model had been carrying appropriate paperwork and a letter from his parole officer.

"We went into the UK and we went through immigration and they detained Jeremy," he told the newspaper.

"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 on to the plane."

Jeremy reportedly signed a deal with White Cross Management days after being released from jail last year and made his runway debut at New York Fashion Week in February.

His mug shot, posted by Stockton Police Department on its Facebook page in 2014, has been liked 101,000 times and shared more than 12,600 times online.

Jeremy Meeks and his wife Melissa had been due to attend a party in London on Thursday to celebrate his first cover shoot for British magazine, Man About Town.

He landed back in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

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