John Alford: London's Burning star sexually assaulted two teenage girls at party, court is told

The 53-year-old is accused of 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.

Opening his trial at St Albans Crown Court on Tuesday, prosecutors said Alford sexually assaulted both girls, who did not previously know him and were drunk, after visiting a property in Hertfordshire following a night out at the pub.

All of the offences are alleged to have taken place in the early hours of April 9 2022 at the home of a third girl, who was friends with the alleged victims, where there was “a bit of a party” taking place, the court heard.

“They were drinking, they were chatting, they were spending time with each other,” prosecutor Julie Whitby said.

The 14-year-old girl had unsuccessfully tried calling her mother and ordering an Uber to leave after other friends left the property at around 12.30am, jurors were told.

Former Grange Hill actor Alford, who is charged under his real name John Shannon, had been at the pub with the third girl’s father, with both men arriving at the property at around 2am.

The alleged victims were left alone with the defendant after others at the property went to bed and he asked them how old they were.

“Mr Shannon was in no doubt that these two girls were both under 16,” Ms Whitby said. “They just thought they were having an evening with a family friend.”

Alford then briefly left the property and went to a nearby petrol station, and came back with a bottle of vodka.

He 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 then had sex with the girl for a second time in a downstairs toilet in the property after pulling her onto him, jurors were told.

“He asked her ‘Do you want this babe?’ and she said no,” Ms Whitby said.

It is also alleged that Alford then sexually assaulted a second 15-year-old girl. Both girls did not say anything about the alleged assaults immediately after they happened as they had been drinking “a fair amount of vodka”, the prosecutor said.

Police received a third-party report from the 15-year-old girl’s mother on April 11 2022 outlining the allegations, jurors were told.

The defendant was then arrested the following day after both girls were interviewed.

In a video of her police interview played to the court, the 14-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had never had sex before the night of the alleged incidents.

“I told him to stop because I didn’t want to have sex with an old man,” the girl said.

She said she had been at the property since 7pm and had consumed around half a bottle of vodka, but that both she and the second girl had stopped drinking before Alford arrived at the property.

Asked how the defendant was behaving during the evening, the girl said he was acting “overly nice” but was “slurring his words, and he would repeat things quite often”.

Asked about what happened in the garden, the girl said: “I didn’t really want to sit on his lap but I didn’t think it was a big deal. I was so drunk I wasn’t really thinking of anything.”

The girl said the sexual intercourse with Alford lasted a couple of minutes and that she asked him to stop “three or four times”.

Describing the alleged incident in the bathroom, she said she had removed her own clothing before the defendant pulled her towards him.

She said the second girl had told her she was sexually assaulted by Alford while he sat between them, but she did not see the incident happen. The defendant went upstairs to bed shortly before 6am, the girl said.

Asked why she did not personally contact the police about what happened, she added: “Just because I knew my mum would find out, and my dad. I just didn’t want them to know.”

In a statement provided to the force, Alford 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 said the two alleged victims were “trying to extort money from him and they were trying to trick him”, but no material supporting these claims was found on either the girls’ or the defendant’s phones when searched, Ms Whitby said.

The trial had been listed to start in December last year but the court was previously told Alford had been admitted to hospital and was medically unwell.

Alford, of Holloway, north London, appeared in the dock wearing a white shirt and pair of headphones. He denies all the charges against him.

The trial continues.