Was Alexander Westwood sentenced to prison for rape and sexual abuse? (Photo Credit – Instagram)
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A British actor who once starred in Netflix’s ‘S** Education’ has been sentenced to 15 and a half years in prison for the rape and sexual abuse of a young acting student, apparently one of five victims in a horrifying pattern of predatory behavior.
Alexander Westwood, 24, was found guilty of 26 child s** crimes, with some victims suffering under his control for almost a decade. The “manipulative and predatory” Shropshire native exploited his status to manipulate and groom young students, using his position as an acting coach to gain their trust before preying on them.
Alexander Westwood’s Shocking Web of Abuse
The court heard that one of Westwood’s victims endured his abuse for eight years, while another was forced into degrading acting exercises where she had to strip and perform intimate scenes under his instruction.
His pattern of exploitation extended beyond his acting classes as Westwood even targeted a young boy and a woman, further exposing his deeply ingrained predatory nature.
The actor’s crimes date back to when he was just 10 years old, beginning with the abuse of a 6-year-old girl, and as he grew older, his tactics became more calculated.
Between November 2020 and September 2021, he raped and s*xually abused an acting student, forcing her to act out explicit scenes from Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton’ and the 1991 film ‘Frankie and Johnny’ while naked.
In one instance, she was forced to strip down while reading Ophelia’s monologue from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He even manipulated her into signing a contract, binding her to his control with a financial penalty of up to $22,800 to about $45,600, if she dared to walk away.
Exploiting Future and Destroying Dreams
Another teenage victim, whose abuse overlapped with the first, was coerced into performing an incest scene from a Greek tragedy while Westwood directed her to strip and touch her breasts and vagina. The scenes “disgusted” her, a court heard.
Meanwhile, he forced a 10-year-old boy into a “game” involving inappropriate touching. His abuse extended to a woman he “highly” controlled and assaulted “every few weeks”, disregarding her repeated refusals.
A Courtroom Reckoning
Despite the gravity of the charges against him, Westwood remained disturbingly smug in court, smirking as the details of his crimes were laid bare.
Judge Neil Chawla condemned his “campaign of sexual offending,” stating that his actions had left a devastating impact on his victims, many of whom now suffer from panic attacks, anxiety, and a shattered sense of self-worth.
During the trial, survivors detailed how their passion for acting had been completely destroyed by the trauma he inflicted. One victim admitted that she came to “despise everything to do with acting, even though it was [her] passion.”
Smirking mug shot of serial sex offender actor Alex Westwood released by police
Sex Education rapist Alexander Westwood smirks at the camera in his police mug shot as one of his victims speaks out saying – ‘I want Netflix to see who they hire’. pic.twitter.com/10XZfyAWs2
The disgraced actor, who played a student in Sex Education and appeared in the BBC’s Doctors series, originally faced 77 charges, but prosecutors streamlined his case due to the overwhelming number of offenses.
Of his 26 convictions, 11 sentences were reduced since he was a minor when those specific crimes occurred, and he has also been issued restraining orders against all five victims.
As the verdict was read, applause erupted in the courtroom, a final rejection of the predator who spent years manipulating, controlling, and destroying lives.
