A FORMER London’s Burning star has been found guilty of sexually abusing two young girls at a party.
John Alford, who also appeared on Grange Hill, targeted the two girls, who were aged under 16, after buying them vodka.
John Alford has been found guilty of sexually abusing two girls[/caption]
Alford appeared in London’s Burning[/caption]
The 53-year-old – real name John Shannon – had sex with one of the girls when she was aged 14 in a garden and a toilet.
He also performed a sex act on another teen – then aged 15 – and was “in no doubt” both girls, who did not previously know him, were underage.
Alford denied four counts of sexual activity with a 14-year-old and two counts relating to a second girl, then aged 15, of sexual assault and assault by penetration.
All of the offences took place on April 9, 2022, St Albans Crown Court heard.
Both girls had gone to a friend’s home following a trip to the pub where a “bit of a party” was happening.
Dad-of-two Alford had also been at the pub with the father of the third girl whose house it was.
The court heard he left the property and went to a nearby petrol station, coming back with a bottle of vodka, cigarettes and food.
Once alone with the girls, the actor asked the younger girl to sit on his lap in the garden and began kissing and touching her.
Alford, who has previous convictions including for supplying drugs, then had sex with her, before targeting her again for a second time in a downstairs toilet.
He asked her “do you want this babe?” but the schoolgirl told him “no”.
Giving evidence, she said: “Most children, if an adult is telling you to do something, you’ll do it … especially if you are drunk or impaired.”
Jurors heard he also performed a sex act on another teen – then aged 15.
She told police Alford touched her while she was “dozing off” after the actor bought both girls alcohol.
Asked how she felt after the assault, the girl said: “Sick. I felt absolutely sick. I wasn’t going to tell anyone.”
The teen said she immediately showered after being dropped off at the other girl’s home the following morning as she was “stressing out”.
Both girls then went into the bathroom together and “spoke about everything that happened”, jurors were told.
They did not say anything about the assaults immediately as they had been drinking “a fair amount of vodka”.
But on April 11 while at another friend’s home, the 15-year-old said she decided to speak up.
She added: “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.”
Alford fought back tears during his evidence and claimed he “never touched” either girl.
He added: “I have been accused of the most horrific crime anyone can ever be accused of. I didn’t do anything inappropriate.”
In a statement provided to police, he said one of the two girls “kept on trying to kiss me” and had told him she was 17-years-old.
He added: “At no point did I touch her in any sexual way whatsoever.”
Alford also claimed the two girls were “trying to extort money from him and they were trying to trick him”.
The Glasgow-born actor first shot to fame as a teenager when he landed the role of Robbie Wright on Grange Hill.
He played the role in the seminal BBC show for five years alongside Simone Hyams and George Christopher and took part in the anti-drugs single Just Say No.
Between 1993 and 1998, Alford appeared in long-running drama London’s Burning as Billy Ray.
He later had a role in film Mike Bassett: England Manager, Casualty and Brit flick The Hatton Garden Job.
Alford also enjoyed a short-lived pop career – with three singles reaching the UK Top 30.