Actor Alexander Westwood guilty of raping teen in acting classes

A “manipulative and predatory” actor who appeared in Netflix’s Sex Education has been found guilty of 26 sex offences, including against children and two pupils he gave acting classes to.

Alexander Westwood, from Albrighton in Shropshire, had a fascination with pornography from a young age, his trial heard.

He denied 26 offences, including raping a school girl who came to him for acting tuition and sexually assaulting a child over an eight year period.

He will be sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown in February.

Warning: Some people may find details in this story distressing.

Jurors heard Westwood, who also appeared in the BBC’s Doctors series, was a “rotten apple” and his repeated sexual offending was “a habit, a lifestyle”.

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

Speaking of two teenage girls who came to him for help with acting, Mr Wallace said one was “forced to act out the most inappropriate scenes” while the second – following her “dream” of going from school to drama college in Birmingham – was systematically abused by him.

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

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 talked to her about a sex scene from the 1991 film Frankie and Johnny and a masturbation scene from Bridgerton, Mr Wallace said.

When she questioned and challenged him, he would say “do what your teacher says… do you trust me?”, he added.

She was told not to tell anyone and when she talked about not coming any more, he introduced a contract – a “coercive tool to keep her in line” – that “tied her in” to 365 lessons saying she would owe him as much as £18,000 or £36,000 if she broke it.