Entertainment
Sex Education actor found guilty of raping teenager at acting class-Danni Scott-Entertainment – Metro
He was called ‘predatory’.
Alexander Westwood has been found guilty (Picture: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)
Actor Alexander Westwood has been found guilty of 26 sex offences, including raping a teenager during an acting class.
The 24-year-old faces jail after a jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court found him guilty on all charges, following two days of deliberations.
Westwood, who appeared in Netflix’s Sex Education and BBC’s Doctors, was called ‘manipulative and predatory’ in court.
Jurors were told how he sexually assaulted one girl over a seven-year period, with one victim aged just 10.
Westwood, from Albrighton, Shropshire, also filmed one teenager naked on his iPad and then tried to bill her family £18,000 for missing drama lessons after sexually abusing her.
He was described in court as a ‘supreme manipulator’ who was obsessed with sex and used his stardom to prey on his victims.
He will be sentenced in February (Picture: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)
One victim, who was a pupil of Westwood, was reduced to tears on the stand as she relived ‘the hell’ of his abuse.
She bravely told the court: ‘I did not realise it at the time but I was a victim of domestic abuse. He would get very angry and hold me down by my wrists, I would have to bite him just to get away from him.
‘He would ask me for sex and when I said no would carry on. I would tell him I did not want to because I was not happy, but he would just ignore me. He would get angry and throw things. He would regularly pin me down by my wrists so I could not move.
‘I would have to bite him to get him off me. He would lie, lie and lie. He told my mother I needed to be in a psychiatric hospital’.
Westwood denied the charges, stating he never did ‘anything sexually inappropriate’ but after a four-week trial was found guilty.
He will be sentenced in February by Judge Neil Chawla.
This Is Not Right
On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a year-long campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.
Throughout the year we will be bringing you stories that shine a light on the sheer scale of the epidemic.
With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to engage and empower our readers on the issue of violence against women.
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The first charge relates to his 10th birthday, the age at which criminality begins in the UK, with the court hearing he had a ‘fascination’ with porn from a young age.
Prosecutors said had repeatedly abused one young girl over seven years, forcing her to drink his urine.
‘He is a supreme manipulator,’ said Prosecutor Andrew Wallace previously. ‘All these charges have a common theme, of inappropriate touching and predatory behaviour.
‘The ten indictments concerning a girl, the first charge is on the date of his tenth birthday, that is the date because there is not criminality before this age.’
Calling Westwood a ‘rotten apple’, Wallace said the sexual abuse had become ‘a habit, a lifestyle.’
The court heard how one victim was ‘forced to act out the most inappropriate scenes’ while another was systematically abused as she trained for drama school.
The mother of a teenage victim told how her daughter had attended lessons in his flat alone in 2021, where he raped her during a class and filmed the incident.
She said that her daughter had signed a contract which stipulated he must be paid £18,000 if she failed to attend.
What to do if you’ve been raped
If you have been the victim of rape, either recently or historically, and are looking for help, support is out there.
If you have recently been raped and you are still at risk, ring 999 and ask for the police. Otherwise, the first step is to go somewhere you are safe.
If you want to report your rape to the police, ring 999 or the police non-emergency line on 101. An Independent Sexual Violence Advocate (ISVA) will often be on hand to help you through reporting and even after you have made a statement, you can still decide to withdraw from the criminal justice process at any time.
If you plan on going to the police, if possible, do not wash your clothes or shower, bathe or brush your teeth. If you do get changed, keep the clothes you were wearing in a plastic bag. These steps will help to preserve any DNA evidence your attacker may have left on your body or clothes.
If you don’t want to contact the police, Rape Crisis suggest talking to someone you trust about what has happened; or you can ring one of the UK’s many rape and sexual assault helplines.
Anyone aged 16+ can contact Rape Crisis’s 24/7 Support Line by calling 0808 500 2222 or starting an online chat.
If you have been injured, you’re best advised to go to your nearest A&E to seek medical treatment. If you are uninjured, you can go to your nearest Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC). The NHS has information on where to find your nearest centre here.
If your rape is historic, you can still access support, including from the police – there is no time limit on reporting and your account can still be used as evidence.
Read more here.
‘As fame beckons, he met two impressionable 16-year-olds and used his revered position to abuse them,’ the prosecution said.
One victim said he had called the police on her ‘and lied to them’ as well as making her ‘vulnerable’ by stealing her home CCTV cameras.
‘He raped me,’ she said in evidence. ‘I have had normal relationships since, I suffer with anxiety and have been treated for my mental health but I never have been so volatile as when I was with him.’
Wallace added: ‘If we were to list every instance there would be hundreds of charges.’
There were more than 10 charges relating to his abuse of one girl, who was assaulted at a house in Walsall, West Midlands.
Wallace added: ‘Then when giving acting lessons, he again used this as an opportunity to touch his pupils inappropriately.
‘These are schoolgirls we are talking about, teenagers. Imagine asking Dame Judi Dench to recite Hamlet naked, she would tell you where to go.’
This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.
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