John Alford death: London’s Burning actor dies in prison while serving sexual assault sentence
Former actor John Alford died in prison just two months after being jailed for sexually assaulting two girls.
Alford was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison in January after being found guilty of assaulting the teenagers during a party at a friend’s house in April 2022.
54-year-old person appeared London is Burning and BBC drama Grange HillHe was found guilty of four counts of sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl and charges of sexual assault and assault by penetration of a 15-year-old girl at a property in Hertfordshire.
The Prison Service said he died at HMP Bure in Norfolk on Friday.
A Prison Service spokesman said: “As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”
During the trial, jurors heard the accused, real name John Shannon, sexually assaulted the girls while drunk after a night out at the bar. All of the crimes took place at a third girl’s home.
The court heard the former actor bought around £250 worth of food, alcohol and cigarettes from a nearby petrol station in the early hours of the morning, including a bottle of vodka which the victims later drank.
Jurors heard Alford then had sexual intercourse with the 14-year-old girl in the home’s garden and later in the downstairs toilet, and inappropriately touched the 15-year-old girl as she lay half-asleep on the living room sofa.
Police received a third-party report from the 15-year-old girl’s mother outlining the allegations two days later, before the defendant was arrested.
In her statement, the 15-year-old girl said she felt “completely sick” after the attack and planned to keep the incident secret before suffering a “mental breakdown” to her friend’s mother.
Alford told jurors during the trial that all the allegations were “scandalous” and “fabricated” and that there was no DNA evidence to support the attacks.
Alford was previously convicted of supplying illegal drugs to his ex-wife. World News Journalist Mazher Mahmood, known as the “fake sheikh”, was sentenced to nine months in prison in the case he was tried in 1999.
