Alexander Westwood: 'Predatory' Sex Education star found guilty of 26 offences against women and children
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“Manipulative” and “predatory” Alexander Westwood, from Albrighton in Shropshire, denied the offences, including raping a school girl who came to him for acting tuition and sexually assaulting a child over an eight-year period.
The trial heard that Westwood, who also appeared in the BBC’s Doctors series, had a fascination with pornography from a young age and he was a “rotten apple” and his repeated sexual offending was “a habit, a lifestyle.”
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Hide AdDescribing him as a “predator”, prosecutor Andrew Wallace said one of the teenage girls was “forced to act out the most inappropriate scenes” while the second, who had a “dream” of going to a drama college in Birmingham, was systematically abused
Between November 2020 and September 2021, Westwood raped and sexually assaulted the pupil going to drama school as well as inciting her to engage in sexual activity.
“She had ambitions to be an actress. She arranged lessons with him and over the course of time the defendant was able to do the most despicable acts with her," Mr Wallace said. He would touch her, touch himself and raped her, he added.
Westwood spoke to the victim about a sex scene from the 1991 film Frankie and Johnny and a masturbation scene from Bridgerton, Mr Wallace stated. When the victim questioned and challenged him, Westwood allegedly responded, "do what your teacher says… do you trust me?"
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Hide AdHe also told her not to tell anyone about their interactions, and when she mentioned not coming anymore, he introduced a contract that Mr. Wallace described as a "coercive tool to keep her in line." This contract "tied her in" to 365 lessons, with a penalty of up to £18,000 or £36,000 if she broke it. At one point, Westwood threatened to inform her principal, Mr Wallace added.


One pupil accused him of sexual deviancy, and controlling behaviour, often telling her mother "she should be admitted to a psychiatric hospital because she is going off the rails".
Mr 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 Judy Dench to recite Hamlet naked, she would tell you where to go."
Jurors heard how he wrote an apology to one victim saying: “I am sorry for acting in a predatory way.” Westwood claimed his dad made him write it and he did not mean “predatory in a sexual way”.
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Hide AdMr Wallace added: "He wrote letters, in his own words, describing himself as a predatory. He wrote to his victim 'first and foremost I apologise' now he is accusing her of being a liar.
"He continued 'I apologise for being so irresponsible and inconsiderate. I apologise for everything, I really do. I cannot imagine the effect it must have had on you."


One victim, who claimed she was raped by the star, was reduced to tears on the stand as she relived 'the hell' of her encounter with Westwood. The young woman, who was one of the actor's drama pupils, told the court she was raped, sexually abused and violently assaulted by him.
She said: "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.
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Hide Ad"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."
The court heard also allegations of Westwood’s controlling behaviour with those that he had sexual relationships with. In her evidence, the woman added: "He phoned the police on me, and lied to them. I then saw on my CCTV in my house that he stole my cameras, which made me feel vulnerable.
"He raped me. 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."
The mum of another teenage victim told how her daughter attended lessons at the actor's flat alone in 2021. She said she was forced to have sex during classes and filmed naked on Westwood's iPad. She said: "My daughter had to have counselling after what he did to her in those lessons. I phoned the police to report what he had done to her."
Westwood will be sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court on February 25.