London's Burning star John Alford died of heart disease after being imprisoned for sexually abusing two young girls, inquest hears

Published: 17:42, 16 June 2026 | Updated: 17:54, 16 June 2026 Disgraced actor John Alford died of heart disease just weeks after being jailed for sexually abusing two young girls, an inquest has heard. The actor, 54, starred in BBC school drama Grange Hill before he played fireman Billy Ray in London's Burning. The provisional cause of the star's death has been publicly recorded as ischaemic heart disease. It means Alford likely suffered a heart attack, fatal arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death.  Alford, whose real name was John Shannon, was found unresponsive on his bed when staff opened his cell door on March 13, it was reported.   The actor was jailed in January for eight-and-a-half years after having sex with a drunk 14-year-old at a house party and sexually assaulting her 15-year-old friend. He died less than three months into the sentence.  John Alford outside St Albans Magistrates' Court, Hertfordshire last year  John Alford played fireman Billy Ray in ITV drama London's Burning from 1993 to 1998 Glasgow-born 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 while they were 'dozing off' at the Hertfordshire house. 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'. He had been held at the Category C HMP Bure in Norfolk, where he was found dead. On the night of his assaults - April 8, 2022 - Alford had spent the evening at a pub with the father of a third girl 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 onto him. He then sexually assaulted the older girl while sitting between the two victims.  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'. 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. 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. Alford appeared on Grange Hill as the happy-go-lucky Robbie Wright, performing on its landmark anti-drugs song Just Say No Once one of British television's most famous faces, Alford was written out of London's Burning - which attracted up to 18 million viewers a week - when he was caught in a News of the World 'Fake Sheikh' sting. The actor was found guilty by a jury at London's Snaresbrook Crown Court in 1999 of one count of supplying cocaine to Fake Sheikh Mazher Mahmood and another similar charge involving cannabis resin. Alford said he had been invited to the meeting with the Fake Sheikh at the Savoy Hotel in London in 1997. He was offered the chance to attend the celebrity opening of a nightclub in Dubai, where he would get the chance to meet Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone, and possibly work with them in future. During this meeting, Mahmood asked whether Alford would be able to supply some cocaine and cannabis on his behalf. Mahmood was later convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice after using illegal methods to get stories, but Alford's attempts to get his own convictions overturned are understood to have failed. With his career in tatters, he turned to driving a taxi and scaffolding work to get by. He was banned from the roads for 16 months in January 2006 for drink-driving after a crash in Islington, north London, in April 2005. But he was in trouble with the law again in 2018 when he was accused of assaulting two police officers after jumping behind the wheel of a bin lorry left with a smashed windscreen. The disgraced star sparked chaos in Camden, north London, when he got behind the wheel of a 10-tonne truck. More than 20 officers in seven patrol cars were joined by an ambulance. One witness said that the huge police presence suggested they 'seemed to respond like it was a terror attack'. Footage of the early morning incident showed the former actor initially smiling while behind the wheel of the stationary vehicle. He then yelled to the man filming him: 'I tried to save your truck. It was reversing,' before staggering out of the cab. Alford can then be heard cheering as the sound of police sirens echoes down the street. The mobile footage, obtained by The Sun, then cut to him grappling with two police officers in the street as he screamed: 'I ain't done nothing.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.