The TV star whose profession fell aside after Fake Sheikh tabloid sting: How John Alford went from London’s Burning star adored by hundreds of thousands to an out-of-work actor starting eight years in jail

John Alford was once among the most famous faces on British TV, as the happy go lucky star of Grange Hill and London’s Burning and even pop star, with three top 20 singles at the start of his career. 

But after being jailed on Wednesday for eight-and-a-half years after having sex with a drunk 14-year-old girl at a house party and sexually assaulting her 15-year-old friend, the actor’s career has completely fallen apart. 

It arguably all began after a drugs sting by the News Of The World’s now-disgraced Fake Sheikh that turned Alford’s world on its head, shattered his career and left him relying on benefits. 

Alford served six weeks of a nine-month sentence for supplying cocaine and cannabis to undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood, who had promised him a role in a Robert De Niro movie. 

On Wednesday, Alford was returned to prison again – for much longer – after being convicted of having sex with an underage girl and sexually assaulting another at the same party. 

The TV star had sex with a 14-year-old in a garden and in a toilet, and performed a sex act on a 15-year-old later on at the Hertfordshire home of a third girl who was friends with the victims. 

Alford claimed he was the victim of a blackmail plot but was convicted by a jury at St Albans Crown Court on all six charges by a 10-2 majority following a trial. 

As he was convicted, he said out loud: ‘Wrong, I didn’t do this.’ Members of his family were heard gasping from the public gallery. 

 Alford played happy go lucky Robbie Wright on Grange Hill between 1985 and 1991.

Robbie was best remembered for his romances with Calley Donnington and his friendship with Ziggy Greaves.

After leaving the show, he went on to be a regular on ITV series London’s Burning playing Billy Ray, earning more than £120,000-a-year in the early 1990s.

He also enjoyed several top 40 hit singles, produced by Stock/Waterman, following his TV success.

But his fortunes turned and he was written out of London’s Burning when he was snared by the News Of The World’s Fake Sheikh.

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, as well as a similar charge involving cannabis resin.

Alford claimed he was convinced Mahmood was a real sheikh called Mohammed Al-Kareen because he was wearing an expensive Rolex watch and was travelling around in Rolls Royce.

He said he had been invited to the meeting with the Fake Sheikh at the Savoy Hotel in London in 1997.

Alford 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. The show was watched by up to 18 million viewers a week, but once the story emerged, ITV sacked the actor. 

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 and was in trouble with the law again, this time after hijacking a bin lorry and assaulting police. 

He was also banned from the roads for 16 months in January 2006 for drink-driving after a crash in Islington, North London in April 2005. 

For Alford it all came back to that fateful meeting with the Fake Sheikh. 

He told The Sunday People: ‘The fake sheikh ruined my life. When I heard Tulisa had walked free I was so pleased her nightmare was over. 

‘But I’ve been living my own nightmare for 17 years. I’m just glad people are finally raising concerns about the way this man operates.’ 

He added: ‘I was wrong to sort out the deal and I’ve been paying for it ever since. If it wasn’t for Mahmood there would have been no drug deal. I wasn’t a drug dealer, I was an actor. But after the court case, that was it – I couldn’t get work.’ 

He struggled to return to his previous success after being released from o but has had small parts since. He appeared in CBBC show Mile High. 

But Alford quit acting for a period and became a scaffolder and minicab driver but returned to acting in the early 2000s.

During this period he appeared in the film Mike Bassett: England Manager and reality programme Trust Me – I’m a Beauty Therapist in 2001 and 2003.

He also had parts in Casualty and played a prison guard in 2017 British movie The Hatton Garden Job.

In 2018 he was accused of assaulting two police officers after jumping behind the wheel of a bin lorry left with a smashed windscreen. 

The ex-Grange Hill and London‘s Burning 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 yells 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 cuts to him grappling with two police officers in the street as he screams: ‘I ain’t done nothing’.

One police officer trying to arrest him says back: ‘You smashed the windscreen’ and repeatedly tells the suspect: ‘Get down on the floor’. 

Witnesses in north London said that they had recognised Alford because of his roles in Grange Hill and London’s Burning.  

One said that Alford had tried to start the Dennis lorry and a bin was thrown at the windscreen.

Alford, who has no fixed abode, was charged with criminal damage and two counts of assault on a police officer. He was later handed a community order in 2019.

He said he had developed a ‘siege mentality’ at the time.

Six years on he faced more serious charges, and now total disgrace. 

The TV star was accused of twice having sex with a 14-year-old before performing a sex act on a 15-year-old later on. 

Opening the case, prosecutor Julie Whitby said the alleged incidents took place at the Hertfordshire home of a third girl who was friends with the victims.

‘They were drinking, they were chatting, they were spending time with each other,’ the prosecutor said.

Alford – who was charged under his real name of John Shannon – had spent the night out at the pub with the father of the third girl on the night of April 8, 2022, jurors were told.

He was left alone with his alleged victims in the early hours of the morning after other people at the property went to bed and he asked the girls how old they were, Ms Whitby said.

‘Mr Shannon was in no doubt both the girls were under 16,’ she added.

‘They just thought they were having an evening with a family friend.’ 

The actor briefly left the property to visit a nearby petrol station where be bought a bottle of vodka, it is claimed.

He then asked the 14-year-old girl to sit on his lap after going outside into the property’s garden for a cigarette, which the girl described as feeling ‘a bit strange’, the court heard.

Alford then allegedly started to kiss and touch her before having sexual intercourse with her.

‘She didn’t say stop beforehand but she didn’t want it to happen,’ Ms Whitby said.

Later in the evening, Alford had sex with the girl for a second time in a downstairs toilet in the property after pulling her onto him, jurors were told. It is alleged that Alford then sexually assaulted the older girl.

Neither complained about the alleged assaults immediately after they happened as they had been drinking ‘a fair amount of vodka’, the prosecutor said.

Police received a report from the 15-year-old girl’s mother two days later outlining the allegations, jurors were told.

The younger alleged victim, now aged 18, was tearful as she gave evidence in front of a busy public gallery.

The woman, who can’t be named for legal reasons, said the alleged incident in the garden with Alford lasted ‘no longer than 10 minutes’, while the second incident in the downstairs bathroom lasted five minutes.

Asked by prosecutor Ms 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, said revealed she had never had sex before, adding: ‘I told him to stop because I didn’t want to have sex with an old man.’

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.

She said she immediately showered after being dropped off at the other complainant’s house later that day as she was ‘stressing out’. Both went into the bathroom together and ‘spoke about everything that happened’, she added.

Jurors heard that the girls didn’t mention the alleged assaults immediately after they happened as they had been drinking ‘a fair amount of vodka’.

But the older girl finally revealed the abuse while visiting a different friend’s home on April 11.

‘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 set up and blackmailed by a man with an ‘Irish-sounding Traveller-type’ voice. There was no material evidence supporting his claims.

The 53-year-old had denied six charges, including two of engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged under 16 and two of engaging in penetrative activity with a girl under 16.

But the jury convicted him guilty of all six charges by a majority of 10-2, after spending more than 13 hours deliberating the charges over the course of three days.

He was jailed on January 14 for eight-and-a-half years. 

Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Laura Harrison, noted that his victims had been ‘born long after his career began’ and had no idea of his status – putting paid to his claims they were trying to blackmail him. 

She added: ‘There is no doubt that Shannon’s behaviour that evening was predatory and carried out solely for his own sexual gratification. Reporting offences of this nature is never easy. 

‘I want to commend the victims for their courage in coming forward and for the strength they have shown throughout this lengthy and complex investigation. Their determination has never wavered, and this is testament to their bravery.’ 

It’s likely to be the scandal that finishes off his career once and for all.