Former London’s Burning actor John Alford guilty of sexually assaulting girls aged 14 and 15

Former London’s Burning actor John Alford has been found guilty of sexually assaulting girls aged 14 and 15 at a friend’s home.

Jurors heard the 53-year-old, who rose to fame in BBC show Grange Hill, sexually assaulted the girls while they were drunk following a night out at the pub.

St Albans Crown Court was told he bought £250 worth of food, alcohol and cigarettes from a nearby petrol station in the early hours of the morning, including a bottle of vodka which the victims subsequently drank.

Alford 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.

He denied four counts of sexual activity with the younger girl and charges of sexual assault and assault by penetration relating to the second teenager at a property in Hertfordshire on April 9 2022.

But, after 13 hours of deliberations, he was found guilty.

Alford, of Holloway, north London, who was charged under his real name John Shannon, had previously told the court the allegations were a “set-up”.

He put his head in his hand and shouted “Wrong, I didn’t do this” from the dock as the verdicts were read out in court.

During the week-long trial, Alford, who cried while giving evidence, told jurors “I never touched either of them girls”, adding there was “no DNA” evidence and that he would stand by his denial “until the day I die”.