Former London’s Burning actor John Alford dies in prison

Alford, 54, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years in January after he was found guilty of the assaults which occurred during a party at a friend’s home.

He died at HMP Bure in Norfolk on Friday, the Prison Service said.

London’s Burning star John Alford in 1993 (Image: John Stillwell/PA Wire)

The former actor, who appeared in the BBC drama Grange Hill, was convicted of four counts of sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl and charges of sexual assault and assault by penetration relating to a 15-year-old girl at a property in Hertfordshire on April 9 2022.

After Alford’s death was first reported by The Sun on Sunday, a Prison Service spokesman said: “John Shannon died in prison on March 13 2026.

“As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”

Jurors heard during the trial that the defendant, charged under his real name John Shannon, sexually assaulted the girls while they were drunk following a night out at the pub.

St Albans Crown Court heard that Alford bought some £250 worth of food, alcohol and cigarettes from a nearby petrol station, including a bottle of vodka which the victims subsequently drank.

He then had sexual intercourse with the 14-year-old girl in the garden of the home and later in a 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.

The 15-year-old girl said in her evidence she had felt “absolutely sick” following the assault and had planned to keep the incident secret before having a “mental breakdown” to her friend’s mother on April 11.

Alford told jurors during the trial that all the allegations were “scandalous” and a “set-up”, and that there was no DNA evidence to support the assaults.

He said he had told police that the girls were “going to extort money” from him, and that he suffered from mental health issues including anxiety, depression and paranoia.

Alford was previously convicted of supplying illicit drugs to former News of the World journalist Mazher Mahmood, who was known as the “fake sheikh”, following a trial in 1999, and was jailed for nine months.

Jurors heard he also received a payment of £500,000 from the news organisation in relation to allegations that his phone had been hacked.

Alford was convinced by Mahmood to meet a fake Arabian prince at London’s Savoy hotel in 1997 on the promise of receiving new acting roles and lucrative public appearances, before later being asked to source cocaine for the individual.

Former London’s Burning star John Alford outside Snaresbrook Magistrates Court in London, where he was convicted of one charge of supplying cocaine to News of the World investigative editor Mazher Mahmood, after he was secretly filmed handing cocaine and cannabis to a bogus Prince. Taken in 1999 (Image: Peter Jordan/PA Wire)

He later filed lawsuits against the News Of The World and its editors with claims that he was subjected to landline wire-taps, voicemail hacking and the wide-ranging theft of his personal data for use in their headline stories.

Mahmood was jailed in 2016 for tampering with evidence in the collapsed drugs trial of pop star Tulisa Contostavlos, which led to Alford’s conviction being examined by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.