Mike Tyson has discovered that he is banned from entering the UK.
Tyson, a former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, was due to arrive in London this week in order to promote his new autobiography, Undisputed Truth. However, he has now learned that he is banned from Britain due to his previous criminal convictions.
Tyson served three years of six-year sentence back in 1992 for the rape of a teenage beauty queen, and also has convictions for assault, driving under the influence and cocaine possession.
A spokesperson for UK publisher HarperCollins said: “There was a change in the UK immigration law in December 2012 of which we were unaware. For this reason Mike had to change location to Paris to salvage his press obligations for the UK.”
The new immigration laws prohibits anyone who has been convicted for longer than four years from entering the country.
The Home Office released a statement regarding the issue, saying: “We would not comment on the details of an individual case.
“We reserve the right to refuse entry to the UK to anyone who is convicted of serious criminal offences.
“In December 2012 we toughened up the rules on entering the UK, replacing the previous discretionary approach with a clearer, stronger framework including mandatory refusals based on the length of, and time since, sentence.”
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