Actor jailed for raping schoolgirl he was tutoring

An actor who appeared in Netflix series Sex Education has been jailed for sex offences, including raping a schoolgirl who came to him for acting lessons.

Alexander Westwood was convicted of 26 crimes against children and two pupils who attended his acting tuition, with one child being targeted over eight years

The 24-year-old, of Shropshire, was described in court as "manipulative and predatory" and jurors were told his repeated offending against five victims was "a habit, a lifestyle".

Sentencing Westwood to 15 and a half years custody at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Judge Neil Chawla said he used his minor celebrity status to prey on impressionable, innocent, young girls.

Westwood was found guilty in December of sexual offences against a young child, a boy aged between nine and 10, two teenage girls who came to him for help with acting and a woman.

Judge Chawla said his "campaign of sexual offending" had spanned just over a decade and had had "devastating consequences for the five victims".

He added the actor had displayed a "seemingly nonchalant attitude" that bordered on "arrogance" during the trial, and that he had tried to blame his victims.

Between November 2020 and September 2021, Westwood raped and sexually assaulted an acting student who had lessons with him, as well as inciting her to engage in sexual activity.

She was made to strip while doing a monologue by Ophelia from Hamlet, the court heard.

Prosecutor Andrew Wallace said Westwood had threatened to go to the principal of the drama school the girl wanted to attend, if she stopped her acting lessons with him.

He made her sign a contract, which tied her into 365 lessons and said she would owe him as much as £18,000 or £36,000 if she broke it. This showed how "manipulative and controlling" he was, Mr Wallace said.

His abuse of the second teenager overlapped, occurring between May and August 2021.

She was shown a script depicting a scene between a father and daughter in Greek mythology and Westwood suggested she be nude, but she declined and later described it as "weird".

The first student said she had had panic attacks since the abuse and she had come to "despise everything to do with acting, even though it was my passion".

Other victims spoke of suffering from claustrophobia and anxiety, as well as having low self-esteem.

Westwood's sentences for 11 of the 26 counts were reduced by half because he was a minor when the offences were committed.

The judge also issued restraining orders with regards to all five victims.