LONDON’S Burning star John Alford has been found dead in jail — just weeks after he was caged for sexually abusing two young girls.
Alford, 54, made his mark on BBC school drama Grange Hill in the 1980s and found fame as fireman Billy Ray in London’s Burning in the 1990s before his fall from grace and final end.
He had hit the skids in 1999 when he was locked up for dealing drugs and was just weeks into an 8½ year sentence for his assaults on the girls when his body was found.
He was unresponsive on his bed when staff opened his cell door on Friday at Category C HMP Bure in Norfolk and medics were called. A source told The Sun on Sunday: “He didn’t wake up in the morning.
“He was in his bed and they thought he was just asleep.
“But when they tried to wake him there was no response and they realised he was dead.”
Glasgow-born Alford got his big break after training at The Anna Scher Theatre stage school in North London alongside EastEnders stars Sid Owen and Patsy Palmer.
He landed the role of rebel Robbie Wright on BBC’s Grange Hill when he was 13, starring alongside Simone Hyams and George Christopher.
Up to eight million watched the show and Alford was part of the cast involved in its anti-drugs campaign, singing with others in its widely-played single “Just Say No”
Towards the end of his Grange Hill stint, Alford later admitted he was drinking up to 18 bottles of beer and nine spirits shots a night.
He earned a new army of fans as fireman Ray in London’s Burning from 1993 to 1998. It drew audiences of 18million on Sunday and was ITV’s longest-running drama behind Corrie and Emmerdale.
Its popularity allowed Alford to launch a short-lived pop career and he had three Top 30 hits and a performance on Top Of The Pops.
His record label dropped the wannabe popstar in 1997 before his fourth single could be released.
Father-of-two Alford was sacked from London’s Burning two years later after he was convicted for supplying cocaine and cannabis.
He served six weeks of a nine-month sentence in 1999. On his release, he worked as a roofer, scaffolder and cabbie to make ends meet.
He broke back into acting in the 2001 film Mike Bassett: England Manager, before trying his hand in reality TV in Trust Me: I’m A Beauty Therapist two years later. In 2006, he was caught drink driving.
He secured minor roles in BBC’s Casualty in 2008 and 2009, and played a prison guard in 2017 film The Hatton Garden Job alongside Larry Lamb and Joely Richardson.
Alford failed to land any more showbiz jobs after being nicked for resisting a police officer while sitting in a Camden Council bin lorry in September 2018. He later admitted criminal damage.
He claimed his drugs conviction effectively led to him being “blacklisted” which, he said, had a “detrimental impact on my mental health and my outlook, trust, paranoia”.
Alford’s biggest disgrace came in April 2022 after a report to police that he had abused two girls, of 14 and 15, at Hoddesden, Herts.
They had got drunk at a pub before heading to the home of a pal whose dad had been drinking with Alford.
The actor bought £250 worth of food, booze and cigarettes from a petrol station, including vodka the girls drank later, a trial at St Albans crown court was told.
Once left alone with the girls, Alford had sex with the younger gil in a garden and a toilet.
The trial heard he asked her “Do you want this babe?” and she answered “No”.
He assaulted the other teen twice while she was “dozing off” on the sofa.
Jurors were told he did not know the girls but was “in no doubt” they were underage.
Alford was reported to police two days later by one of the mum of one of the girls.
When arrested, he told cops: “This stinks. This is a set-up.”
He fought back tears in court, claiming he “never touched” either girl. He told jurors: “I have been accused of the most horrific crime anyone can ever be accused of. I didn’t do anything inappropriate.”
The older girl said Alford “destroyed my mental wellbeing”. The other said the assault “affected me and my family in every way”.
Shannon, who had been in a psychiatric hospital before his September 2025 trial, was convicted under his real name, John Shannon.
He was found guilty of four counts of sexual activity with the 14-year-old and sexual assault and assault by penetration involving the older girl.
Alford, who denied all wrongdoing, yelled at the jurors: “Wrong, I didn’t do this” as the verdict was read out.
Friends from the Islington area of North London, where he lived, are said to have turned their back on him following his conviction.
One source said: “He got hold of someone’s children and ruined their lives — that’s just disgusting.”
Sentencing him in January, Recorder Caroline Overington told him: “You were a trusted family friend and fully aware that the girls were 14 and 15 years of age.
“You have shown a lack of acknowledgement of your offending and showed little remorse.”
Last night, a Prison Service spokesman said: “John Shannon died in prison on 13 March 2026.
“As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”
