Former English TV star 'orders' a bet on an outsider horse (which then wins) from prison and dies in his cell the next day.

An unusual request to a relative and, a few hours later, the discovery behind the bars of his corpse. The death of John Alford, 54 years old, a well-known face of British television, takes on enigmatic contours. The actor, whose real name is John James Shannon, was found dead on the morning of March 13, 2026 in his cell at HMP Bure, in Norfolk. It will now be up to the investigations to clarify the circumstances of an ending that raises more questions than certainties.

Sentenced in January to eight and a half years for sexual abuse of two teenagers, Alford had continued to proclaim his innocence, shouting in court: "I didn't do it". The death, occurring just weeks after entering the institution, is not the only striking element.

What fuels the doubts is primarily the account of an alleged phone call made from inside the prison. Just before dying, the former actor reportedly contacted his sister to ask her to bet on a horse with a curiously ironic name, "Johnny's Jury", which was competing at the Cheltenham Festival and was quoted even 20 to 1.

It remains to be established what happened in the cell between March 11 and 13. HMP Bure mainly houses sexual offenders and, while boasting good reintegration practices, had been the subject of inspections in 2023 that highlighted significant issues: worrying levels of positive drug tests and the need to strengthen suicide and self-harm prevention protocols. A delicate context that further complicates the picture: was it a voluntary act? A sudden illness? Or is there a possible link to the spread of drugs behind the walls?

As per protocol, the case is now under review by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) and an internal investigation by HM Prison and Probation Service. Only the autopsy, along with toxicology tests, will be able to definitively clarify the causes of the death of a man who, with “London’s Burning”, had won over the public before, in 1999, a drug trafficking scandal derailed his career.