Dog the Bounty Hunter was once banned from entering the United Kingdom because of his involvement in a murder case from years ago. Here he was during the manhunt for Brian Laundrie in late 2021, if you can remember that strange and tragic tale:
Duane Chapman – better known to TV audiences as Dog the Bounty Hunter – came to fame on his Hawaii-based show in which he tracks down criminals and bail dodgers and brings them to justice.
However, there’s a bit of a criminal tinge to his past as well, which led to him being denied a visa to enter the UK.
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He was set to appear on Celebrity Big Brother back in the day, but the UK Border Agency told him that wasn’t going to happen because of his involvement in the 1976 murder of Jerry Oliver in Texas.
The Dog was sitting in a car outside a house when one of his mates went into the property to buy weed.
Oliver was in the house at the time and was killed after a struggle that left him shot dead.
Despite being sitting in the car and not involved in the killing, Chapman was convicted of first-degree murder and served one and a half years out of a five year sentence in prison.
Obviously, he didn’t actually kill anyone, but Chapman doesn’t try to shirk his partial responsibility for the death that day.
“I should not have been there, that’s that,” he has been quoted as stating.
Chapman then obviously turned himself to the other side of the law after his experience with crime, devoting his time to catching people who have skipped bail and finding wanted folks, often giving them a free religious chat into the bargain.
At the time of Oliver’s murder, a police officer in Pampa – where the killing took place – described Chapman’s role in the whole thing as ‘minor’.
In a sworn letter, police officer Charles Love minimised the impact of The Dog on the actual crime, despite the fact that he went to jail for it.
Speaking to The Guardian after his UK ban, Chapman said: "I'd like to see your country and I have a lot of fans there and I'd like to meet them,
"I have always wanted to come here."
Before her death, Dog’s wife Beth expressed her disbelief that he still couldn’t enter the country.
She said: "It's just incredible that something that he did 33 years ago is just haunting him.
"It prevents him making a living.
“Our society is so unforgiving it seems, no matter how many good things we do."
On his entry refusal letter, it read: "Records show that you were convicted of one offence which carried a sentence of five years.
“According to those records, that conviction is not spent."
They added that the nature of his visit was not of a ‘sufficiently compelling nature’ to grant him an exemption and allow him in.
Topics: US News, UK News, Celebrity, TV and Film, Crime
Tom Wood