Actor Alexander Westwood guilty of raping teen in acting classes | Global News Avenue

A “manipulative and predatory” actor who starred in Netflix series Sex Education has been found guilty of 26 sex offences, including against children and two students he took acting classes with.

Alexander Westwood, from Albrighton, Shropshire, had been fascinated with pornography since he was a child, his trial heard.

He denies 26 offences, including raping a female student who came to him for acting tuition and sexually assaulting a child over eight years.

He will be sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court on February 25.

WARNING: Some may find the details in this story distressing.

Jurors heard Westwood, who also appeared in the BBC Doctors series, was a “rotten apple” and his repeated sex offending was “a habit, a way of life”.

“He was a predator,” prosecutor Andrew Wallace said.

Speaking of two teenage girls who came to him for acting help, Mr Wallace said one of the girls was “forced to act out the most inappropriate scenes”, while the second – after she had gone from school to Birmingham Drama School After his “dream” – he was systematically abused by him.

“As fame beckoned, he met two impressionable 16-year-olds and used his respected position to abuse them,” he said.

Between November 2020 and September 2021, Westwood raped and sexually assaulted the student, who was attending drama school, and incited her to engage in sexual activity.

“She had ambitions to be an actress. She arranged courses for him and over time the defendant was able to commit the most despicable behavior towards her,” Mr Wallace said.

He added that he would touch her, touch himself and then rape her.

Wallace said Westwood talked to her about a sex scene in the 1991 film “Frankie and Johnny” and a masturbation scene in “Bridgerton.”

When she asked questions and challenged him, he would say “Do what the teacher says…do you believe me?”, he added.

She was told not to tell anyone, and when she talked about not coming again, he introduced a contract – a “compulsory tool to keep her in line” – that “tied her” to class 365, saying She will owe him the most money. If she breaks it, it’s £18,000 or £36,000.

At one point, Mr. Wallace said, he threatened to tell her principal.

The victim was a girl who attended Birmingham drama school and “anything he could offer in terms of acting and drama she could get there and more”, he added.

“Dramatically speaking, he’s a nobody. She doesn’t need him, but boy, does he need her.”

His abuse of the second teenager occurred between May and August 2021.

She was shown a script depicting a scene from Greek mythology between a father and his daughter, and Westwood suggested she get naked, but she refused, later describing it as “weird.”