By Kayla Olaya
An actor in Netflix’s Sex Education, Alexander Westwood, has been found guilty of 26 sexual offences including using his position as a teacher to sexually abuse two teenage girls who attended his acting classes.
Labelled as “manipulative” and “predatory” by prosecutor Andrew Wallace, Westwood, 24, repeatedly made his underage victims watch porn, touched them and then pressured them to engage in sexual activities, in what was described in court as an “extraordinary catalogue of abuse that happened hundreds of times,” the BBC reports.
Actor Alexander Westwood has been found guilty of 26 charges.Credit: Instagram
Westwood, of Albrighton in Shropshire, England, pleaded not guilty to the offences, which related to women and children. According to the BBC, the court heard that the actor had a fascination with pornography from a young age.
Between November 2020 and September 2021, Westwood sexually abused and raped a teenage pupil who dreamed of becoming an actress and came to him for classes, the BBC reports.
Wallace said the girl was “forced to act out the most inappropriate scene”.
“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.”
Westwood would talk to the victim about sex scenes in film. When she questioned his behaviour, he responded with “do what your teacher says… do you trust me?”
Westwood pleaded not guilty in court.Credit: Instagram
He would touch her, then himself before raping her. The victim was told she could not tell anyone, and when she said she would not attend lessons any more, he created a “coercive” contract “to keep her in line” which stated she had to attend 365 lessons, or she would owe him £18,000 to £36,000 ($36,050 to $72,100), the BBC reported.
Westwood did not play a lead role in Sex Education, but appeared as a student in 17 episodes.
Between May and August 2021 Westwood, who also played a role in the Doctors series, began to sexually abuse a second teenage girl who was another student of his.
He showed the victim a script from an unknown Greek mythology scene involving a father and daughter, then suggested she be nude for it and she declined.
Westwood insisted and pressured his underage student to comply with his requests, she unwillingly obliged and took off her clothing. He then touched her, the girl said she felt “disgusted”, the BBC reported.
“[Westwood] met two impressionable 16-year-olds and used his revered position to abuse them,” Wallace said.
The court heard Westwood pinned down another woman by her wrists as he sexually assaulted her, and that she bit him to free herself. Westwood was also convicted of inciting a boy aged between nine and 10 to engage in sexual activity.
Defence lawyer James Bloomer, for Westwood, urged jurors to leave emotion out of their decision-making and questioned the accounts of the victims.
Westwood is due to be sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court on February 25.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).