Former London's Burning and Grange Hill actor John Alford has died in prison, weeks after being sentenced to eight and a half years for child sex offences. The 54-year-old, prosecuted under his birth name John Shannon, died on 13 March, with the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman set to investigate.
Alford was convicted at St Albans Crown Court on 5 September of four counts of sexual activity with a child, plus two further counts of sexual assault and assault by penetration against a second female victim. The offences took place on 9 April 2022, when he targeted two girls aged 14 and 15 during a sleepover at a friend's home in the Easter break.
The court heard that Alford, the only adult awake, plied the girls with alcohol, making a 4:30am trip to a petrol station where he spent £250 on food, cigarettes, rum, beer and flavoured vodka. He then had sexual intercourse with the 14-year-old in the garden and in a downstairs toilet, and inappropriately touched the 15-year-old as she lay semi-conscious on a sofa.
In a police interview shown to the court, the 14-year-old said she had never had sex before and told Alford to stop "three or four times". The older victim said she felt "absolutely sick" after the assault and rushed to shower. Both girls later described themselves as "shells of who they once were", with the younger victim saying in her impact statement that being sexually assaulted "has affected my family in every way".
Recorder Caroline Overton told Alford he had been "a trusted family friend" and that the girls should have been in "a safe environment". After his arrest, Alford insisted he had "never touched" either girl and claimed it was "a setup", but a jury found him guilty on all charges following a week-long trial and over 13 hours of deliberations. He was sentenced in January 2026.
