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John Alford, known for his role in the television series “London’s Burning,” has been found deceased in prison just weeks after being incarcerated for the sexual abuse of two young girls.
Alford, whose birth name was John Shannon, was discovered unresponsive in his cell on Friday morning, according to reports. Prison staff made the discovery when they opened his cell door.
A spokesperson for the Prison Service confirmed the incident, stating, “John Shannon passed away in prison on March 13, 2026.”
In accordance with protocol, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.
The former actor, who also appeared in “Grange Hill,” was sentenced in January to eight-and-a-half years behind bars. His conviction stemmed from charges of engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl at a house party while she was intoxicated and sexually assaulting her 15-year-old friend.
Alford, 54, had been left with his two young victims in the early hours of the morning after others at the house went to bed.
He had sex with the younger girl in the garden after asking her to sit on his lap while he had a cigarette and again later in a toilet.
Alford, a father-of-two, sexually assaulted the older girl as he sat between the two victims as they were ‘dozing off’ at the Hertfordshire house.
John Alford played fireman Billy Ray in ITV drama London’s Burning in the 1990s
He was sentenced to more than eight years in prison in January for sexual offences. Pictured: Alford’s custody photo
He had denied the offences and claimed he was the victim of a blackmail plot after someone rang him and tried to ‘extort money from me’.
Alford was in the BBC school drama Grange Hill in the 1980s and played Billy Ray in London’s Burning from 1993 to 1998.
He had been held at the Category C HMP Bure in Norfolk, where he was found dead according to The Sun on Sunday.
On the night of his offences Alford had spent the night at a pub with the father of a third girl on April 8, 2022 before going to the property where the offences took place.
After others went to bed he was left alone with his victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
He bought a bottle of vodka at a nearby petrol station before returning and asking the 14-year-old to sit on his lap when he went to the garden for a cigarette.
Alford kissed the girl before having sex with her.
Later in the evening Alford had sex with the girl again in a downstairs toilet after pulling her on to him.
Alford committed the sexual offences in 2022 and was convicted by a majority verdict of six charges
He sexually assaulted the older girl while sitting between the two victims.
The 15-year-old’s mother reported Alford to police two days later and he was arrested the following day.
In a victim impact statement, the younger girl – who had turned 18 by the time of the trial in September – said Alford’s sexual assault had ‘affected me and my family in every way’.
The 15-year-old’s mother reported Alford to police two days later and he was arrested the following day.
Being hugged by her own father no longer ‘feels comfortable because he was a man’.
She had told the trial she was good friends with the second victim and both had been invited by another friend to her house in Hertfordshire for the evening.
Tearful as she spoke, the girl said the sex with Alford in the garden lasted ‘no longer than ten minutes’, while the second instance in the bathroom lasted five minutes.
Houzla Rawat, defending Alford, suggested she had been ‘physically friendly’ towards the defendant throughout the evening. She replied: ‘I disagree.’
The victim also denied following Alford into the garden after he went out to have a cigarette.
Alford arrived at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court in 2019, where he was accused of assaulting two police officers
Asked by prosecutor Julie Whitby why she went along with what Alford told her, she said: ‘Most children, if an adult is telling you to do something, you’ll do it … especially if you are drunk or impaired.’
In a video of her police interview played to the court, she revealed she had never had sex before.
‘I told him to stop because I didn’t want to have sex with an old man,’ she said.
The 15-year-old told officers during her interview how ‘we were all just like dozing off… that was when John started to touch me’.
It made her feel ‘absolutely sick’, she added.
Since the assault she said she had tried to take her own life and told the court Alford ‘destroyed my mental wellbeing’.
She said she had showered immediately after being dropped off at the other girl’s house the next day as she was ‘stressing out’.
The pair did not mention the assaults at the time because they had been drinking ‘a fair amount of vodka’, the jury heard.
Alford, pictured leaving prison in July 1999 after he had served time for supplying drugs following a downmarket tabloid sting
It was only while visiting a different friend’s home on April 11 that the older girl shared the abuse.
‘I had a mental breakdown to my best mate’s mum in the garden and she called my mum. (I was) crying, screaming, very sad,’ she said.
Alford angrily denied touching either girl during his police interview, saying: ‘None of this makes sense.
‘It’s a set-up. I didn’t rape anyone. I am not a nonce. This is f****** scandalous.’
He claimed he had been outside when the then 14-year-old was suddenly ‘sitting on my lap with her arms around me, trying to kiss me. I recoiled, I stood up… I literally had to prise her off’.
Alford added: ‘It was quite obvious that she was very drunk and being flirtatious.
‘I did not reciprocate in any way, shape or form at any time.’
Crying while giving evidence in court, he told jurors he ‘never touched either of them girls’, adding there was ‘no DNA’ evidence and he would stand by his denial ‘until the day I die’.
The shamed actor – who was tried under his real name of John Shannon – saw his career fall apart after supplying drugs to the shamed ‘Fake Sheikh’, journalist Mazher Mahmood
Alford suggested he was the victim of a blackmail plot and described a phone call he received on April 10, 2022, from ‘an Irish-sounding traveller-type voice’.
‘He said “Is that John? Do yourself a favour and come to Broxbourne car park, Hoddesdon”,’ the defendant said.
‘He said “Is that John? Do yourself a favour and come to Broxbourne car park, Hoddesdon”,’ the defendant said.
‘I said something stupid like “I’m with my children”. Then he said to bring the money and I said to f*** off.’
The actor told police that they were ‘going to extort money from me’.
But the jury heard there was no material supporting these claims on the defendant’s phone or those of his young victims.
A jury at St Albans Crown Court convicted Alford in January on all six charges he faced by a 10-2 majority after his trial.
As he was handed his jail term, Recorder Caroline Overton said Alford was the ‘one remaining adult’ at the party.
She added: ‘You were a trusted family friend and fully aware that the girls were 14 and 15 years of age.’
Recorder Overton said Alford’s ‘focus’ during the trial was ‘on the impact to you and your family rather than the victims’, which she said ‘limits the extent to which mitigation can be applied’.
Alford was previously convicted of supplying drugs in a tabloid sting and worked more recently as a taxi driver and scaffolder.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.