Netflix star Alexander Westwood was found guilty of 26 sex offences in December, including some against children and pupils in his class
Sex Education star Alexander Westwood has been jailed for 15 years after being found guilty of 26 sex offences, which include child sex offences.
The actor, 24, could have been charged with 77 serious sexual assaults but this was reduced to 26 for ease of sentencing, according to prosecutor Andrew Wallace KC . The court heard how he was a “supreme manipulator” whose sexual offences was a “lifestyle.” Wallace said: “As fame beckons, he met two impressionable 16-year-olds and used his revered position to abuse them.”
He went on to add: “If we were to list every instance there would be hundreds of charges.” Sentencing, Judge Neil Chawla said: “You used your minor celebrity status as an actor to prey on impressionable, innocent and na ve young girls”Throughout your trial your nonchalant attitude bordered on arrogance.
“However the jury rejected your denials and rejected your story of blaming the victims, and rather found that in fact, as the prosecution stated, that you are a serial predator and that sexual offending became part of your lifestyle. I thought long and hard about bail but as an act of mercy for your parents, you were expected to stay at your home address. You were found last week in a hotel in clear breach of the terms of your bail so mercifully provided by this court.
“One of your victims said she felt dehumanised. Another said how she felt dirty just doing the most mundane things. This is the horrifying, lasting effect on the victims of what you did – your sordid sexual criminality. The lead offence is rape, you were supposed to be teaching her, you were paid. This is an abuse of trust.
“I must sentence you for a multitude of sexual offending over a decade of your life. You have shown no remorse and remain a danger to the public. The jury have exposed you as both a predator and a manipulator.”
Mr Wallace said: “Following a lengthy trial the defendant was found guilty of a catalogue of crimes and is therefore not subject to any credit. In fact he called his victims liars in a pre-sentence report, which is regrettable. He is the product of poor parenting and pornography. He was watching pornography on his father’s laptop before the age of 10.
“The pre-sentence report shows the defendant regularly showed totally inappropriate sexualised behaviour at a young age. He is a serial sexual predator, particularly targeting children. Four of his victims were children at the time. This is abuse on a huge scale. He could have been sentenced to 77 serious sexual assaults, but that would have been unwieldy to sentence.
“It is worrying how much planning went into this offending, none of which have become remorse. He went to so much effort which is very worrying. He would not have been to able to commit some of these crimes unless he had set himself up as a teacher, which is a breach of trust. He is a significant risk to the public. He has a flagrant disregard for his victims.”
Alexander, from Albrighton in Shropshire, was found guilty of 26 sex offences in December, including some against children and pupils in his acting class. The actor had denied all offences after a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court and claimed his alleged victims had various motivations to falsely accuse him.
His guilty offences include raping a school girl who came to him for acting tuition and sexually assaulting a child over an eight-year period. Westwood was dubbed “manipulative and predatory” and had a fascination with porn from an early age, a court heard in December.
Referring to two teenage girls, who came to Westwood for acting help, one was “forced to act out the most inappropriate scene while the second was systematically abused by him. Between November 2020 and September 2021, he raped and sexually assaulted the pupil going to drama school as well as inciting her to engage in sexual activity.
Westwood’s abuse of the second teenager coincided with his assault on the first, occurring between May and August 2021. Westwood was also convicted of inciting another child, a boy aged between nine and 10, to engage in sexual activity.
After his four-week trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, he was given bail and allowed to spend the Christmas holidays at home.
If you’ve been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999.
If you are 18 or under and have been affected by this story, you can contact Childline, confidentially on 0800 1111. You can also contact the NSPCC Helpline by phoning 0808 800 500 or emailing [email protected]. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.
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