London’s Burning paedo John Alford placed a winning bet on a horse prior to his death in his prison cell, a friend has revealed.
The disgraced actor convicted of sexually abusing two teenager and raping one of them called his sister and asked her to put a wager on Johnny Jury’s for him at the Cheltenham Festival. Despite the 20/1 outsider horse winning the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle on Friday Alford was later found dead in his prison cell.
Alford’s friend Justin Smith posted on Facebook and said: “John liked a bet, he phoned his sister to put a bet on for him . . .” Smith revealed the name of the horse was Johnny’s Jury and also questioned why Alford would have asked for someone to put on a bet if he was planning on ending his own life.
(Image: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)
Friends of Alford have suspected the man took his own life by overdosing of pills. The Grange Hill star, 54, death is being investigated by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. This development comes after reports have revealed the Category C jail where Alford was held at is being kept “in lockdown” following his death.
Sources say a large scale inquiry is underway to determine how the actor died after he was found unresponsive on Friday (March 13) when guards went to wake him up.
He was being held at the Category C HMP Bure near Norwich and medics were called, but could not revive him. Now questions are being asked about what happened with authorities now investigating. A source told the Daily Star: “Enquiries are ongoing and they will want to wrap it up quickly.
(Image: PA)
“A cause of death will need to be worked out and then there will be questioning of guards and likely other inmates, the prison will effectively be in lockdown after an inmate death while the initial questions are asked.
“They will want to make sure there is no wrongdoing.”
The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman are now investigating the death after Alford, 54, died in prison months after being jailed for sexually assaulting two teenage girls.
“He didn’t wake up in the morning,” a source continued.
(Image: BBC)
“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.”
The paedophile was jailed for eight-and-a-half years in January after he was found guilty of sex assaults which occurred during a party at a friend’s home.
He was convicted of four counts of sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl as well as charges of sexual assault and assault by penetration relating to a 15-year-old girl at a property in Hertfordshire on April 9 2022.
A court heard how, charged under his real name John Shannon, he sexually assaulted the girls while they were drunk following a night out at the pub.