Reproduced from The Mirror 4 November, 1998

The disgraced actor and singer lost his bid to get video evidence of him dealing in drugs thrown out of court on the grounds he had been entrapped by a Sunday newspaper.

So he changed his plea to guilty, declaring: "This thing stinks to high heaven. The only reason I am pleading guilty is that I know deep down that I am not guilty.

"But my barrister has indicated I have no defence. I don't want to put my family through any more stress and to waste court time. I have told the truth. I have a clear conscience."

Judge Stephen Robbins, who said 27-year-old Alford had acted of his own free will, told the star: "A custodial sentence is inevitable."

Alford was remanded in custody until December 4 for reports. As he was taken to the cells an attractive blonde wept at the back of the court.

The actor's lawyer had asked that he not be remanded to south London's Brixton jail as he had had "dealings" with officers there when "certain threats were made against his safety".

The judge said there was nothing he could do but ordered that Brixton's governor be notified. He also ordered an inquiry into possible confiscation of assets the actor may have obtained through drug dealing.

Baby-faced Alford - who was a child star in TV's Grange Hill and had two Top 10 singles in the mid-90s - was caught selling drugs after falling for a classic sting. It was set up after reports that he was a known dealer.

A woman posing as the personal assistant of Sheik Mohammed Al-Kareen, from Dubai, told Alford's agent the star could earn £100,000 by appearing as a celebrity guest at the opening of a Middle East nightclub.

A meeting was arranged, Alford was collected by Rolls-Royce from his home in Hadley Wood, Herts, and driven to London's Savoy Hotel where suite 419 had been hired.

There, secretly filmed by a hidden camera, he met three journalists posing as the sheik and his entourage.

After the conversation turned to drugs, Alford agreed to supply cocaine to a party in north London's Millionaire Row.

He assured the "royals": "I'll sort it...I can get some."

He added the "prophetic" words: "You've got to be careful. If anyone gets hold of it you are ruined, particularly in my business."

Prosecutor Martin Hicks said: "Alford showed he had in-depth knowledge as to the drug's form, quality, purity, the way it was tested, its price, and indeed its legality."

Over dinner, Alford - later sacked from his £50,000 TV role as firefighter Billy Ray - was handed 300 to buy samples of cocaine and cannabis.

He was then driven to collect a friend in Islington, north London, before going to a house in St John's Wood.

Carrying two grammes of cocaine and 11.9 grammes of cannabis, he returned to the Savoy and was filmed dropping the drugs on a table.

Before he left, he helped himself to some of the cannabis and rolled a joint.

When Alford learned he had been duped he wept, London's Southwark Crown Court heard. He then phoned The Mirror's sister papers, the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, to try to lessen the impact of the story.

He told reporters: "I did it as a favour. I am the biggest mug in the world. I'm not a drugs dealer. They set me up. I was led into a false sense of security."

For more than a week in court Alford protested his innocence. Insisting he had only supplied cocaine to impress, he said: "I've seen friends go down the road of hell from this drug. It is the most despicable drug in the world because it drags you down."

He admitted two charges of supplying drugs and one of offering to supply cocaine.