Netflix Sex Education actor found guilty of raping schoolgirl who came to him for acting lessons
10 December 2024, 13:47 | Updated: 10 December 2024, 14:59
Actor Alexander Westwood, who appeared in Netflix's Sex Education, has been found guilty of 26 sex offences against children and pupils he gave acting classes to.
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Westwood, from Shropshire, was found guilty of raping a girl who came to him for acting lessons and sexually assaulting a child over an eight year period.
He will be sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court in February.
Prosecutors described him as a ‘predator’ and a ‘rotten apple’ whose sexual offending was a ‘lifestyle’.
During the trial it emerged he had apologised to a budding teen actress for 'acting in a predatory way' but denied he meant 'sexually', the court heard.
Giving evidence, Westwood, of Albrighton, Shropshire, told the jury his father had made him write a letter to a victim explaining he didn't mean 'predatory in a sexual way'.
He said: "I did not want to write the letter... I held out for three days but he had words with me. And it was his house, so it was his rules."
He was described in court as a ‘supreme manipulator’ who was obsessed with sex and used his stardom to prey on his victims.
Westwood denied the charges, stating he never did ‘anything sexually inappropriate’ but after a four-week trial was found guilty.
