Former Grange Hill and London’s Burning star John Alford was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting two teenage girls aged 14 and 15 in 2022
John Alford used to be one of the biggest pin-ups of the nineties, with people fawning over him thanks to his smouldering looks and intense acting prowess. Now, however, he finds himself a convicted paedophile, beginning an eight and a half year prison sentence.
Alford, 54, hailing from Holloway, north London, was found guilty at trial in September. As the verdict was announced, he was seen burying his head in his hands and bellowed “wrong, I didn’t do this” from the dock.
Today (January 14), he received a sentence of eight and a half years after the jury found him guilty on two counts of sexual activity with a child, two counts of penetrative sexual activity of a child, assault by penetration and sexual assault.
But how did Alford’s life take such a drastic turn from being one of the most sought-after stars to a convicted paedophile? This is how one of the biggest heartthrobs of the 1990s had a dramatic fall from grace.
Booze and betting
Alford joined Anna Scher’s stage school at the tender age of 11 in London, bagging his first role in ITV sitcom Now and Then before securing the part of Robbie Wright in BBC’s Grange Hill in 1985, according to the Mirror. However, the young actor found the pressures of fame too overwhelming and turned to alcohol.
By the time he exited the show at 17, he had reportedly squandered up to £80,000 on booze and gambling. He later admitted to knocking back up to 18 bottles of beer and nine shots of spirits a night.
“When I got ill I went to see somebody. They looked at my liver and told me to stop, which my mum had been telling me for years,” he confessed.
However, despite landing his first high-profile role in 1993 as Billy Ray in ITV hit London’s Burning, not everything was smooth sailing for Alford. In December 1996, just before his scheduled appearance in a pantomime in Sunderland, Alford collapsed and was rushed to a hospital in Newcastle suffering from a rare blood disorder.
Drug sting
In 1999, his success came crashing down around him when he was sacked for being convicted of supplying drugs, before being sentenced to nine months behind bars. Alford had been enticed to a hotel by the News of the World’s Mazher “Fake Sheikh” Mahmood, who was masquerading as an Arabian prince, and was covertly filmed providing cocaine and cannabis, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard at the time.
The judge at Snaresbrook noted there had been an element of entrapment in the case. Alford informed jurors in St Albans he had been “blacklisted” as an actor following that conviction.
Jurors heard that, following legal action, Alford scored a £500,000 settlement from the News of the World’s publishers. He told Panorama: “No one can give me the 18 years I’ve lost, no one can give me that back; I hope this is the first day of a new life for me.”
He battled to find work afterwards and was reportedly compelled to earn money as a roofer, scaffolder and mini-cab driver to survive. At times he had to rely on benefits.
But in 2001, Alford finally secured a role in the film Mike Bassett: England Manager. In 2003, he portrayed the part of drug-dealing and scheming flight attendant Dean in Mile High, and it seemed that Alford was back on the roster of film stardom.
Drink driving
In January 2006, he was hit with a 16-month driving ban and fined for drink-driving after crashing his Rover into three other cars in Islington, north London, on April 2, 2005. He also admitted to driving a defective vehicle as one of his car’s front tyres was dangerously deflated.
Highbury Corner magistrates hit him with a £150 fine and £100 in costs on top of the driving ban. Alford has since faced other motoring-related legal troubles, including causing criminal damage to a council vehicle in 2018, pleading guilty to two counts of resisting an officer and was handed a 12-month community order one year later.
‘Sleepover’ abuse
Alford was found guilty of sexually assaulting girls aged 14 and 15 at a friend’s house on April 9, 2022. He was convicted on six counts including sexual assault, penetrative sexual activity with a child and penetrative sexual assault, after a jury deliberated for 13 hours.
Prosecutor Julie Whitby revealed that both girls were under the influence of alcohol when the incidents occurred. All offences took place at the residence of a third girl, whose father was pally with Alford.
Police were alerted to the allegations by the mother of the 15-year-old girl, and Alford was brought in for questioning before being arrested; in his statement to the police, Alford claimed one of the girls “kept on trying to kiss me” and had told him she was 17.
He added: “At no point did I touch her in any sexual way whatsoever.” The court heard that he told the police post-arrest: “This stinks. This is a set-up.”
“I am not a nonce,” he declared. “I wouldn’t touch a child. If you do that where I’m from, that’s called street justice – I wouldn’t have made it to the court.
“If anyone in my area believed I could have possibly done this, I would be dead by now.”
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