Snoop Dogg has won a legal battle to gain entry to the U.K. - three years after government officials banned him from Britain.

The hip-hop star, real name Calvin Broadus, incurred the wrath of immigration officials in 2006 when he was arrested following a fracas at London's Heathrow Airport. The following year, he was denied entry into the country, with authorities arguing his previous convictions for drugs and firearms offences made him a threat.

Broadus battled against the ruling, launching a legal challenge and urging stars including David Beckham and Paul McCartney to help get the ban overturned.

It was lifted in 2008, but government officials took the case to the Court of Appeal, where it was decided the judge who reversed the ruling may have "misinterpreted the test of exclusion".

Broadus refused to give up and the case went to a U.K. Asylum and Immigration Tribunal on Friday, with the star's lawyers urging officials to take into consideration his work as a high-school football coach and appearances on family-friendly TV shows including The View and his Father Hood reality series.

And The Drop It Like It's Hot hitmaker was finally successful - two senior immigration judges decided border authorities were wrong to deny the star entry.

The ruling was released to both parties on Monday and has paved the way for Broadus to return to Britain.

Home Office officials issued a statement insisting they are "disappointed" by decision.