Netflix’s Sex Education actor Alexander Westwood was reportedly found guilty of rape and sexual abuse of teenagers in acting lessons.
The British actor was found guilty of 26 sex offenses, as well as convicted of raping a 16-year-old and sexually abusing another teenager who came to him for acting classes, according to multiple outlets present at Westwood’s U.K. court hearing this week.
Westwood — whose acting credits also include the 2018 film Outlawed and 2019 film Angel City — will be sentenced on February 25.
The actor denied the allegations, which transpired in 2020 and 2021. Westwood was also convicted of assaulting a child for nearly a decade, between 2010 and 2018.
“He is a predator,” prosecutor Andrew Wallace told the jury of the 24-year-old actor, adding that Westwood is a “rotten apple” in the industry and his behavior was “a habit” and “a lifestyle,” according to a report by BBC News.
The prosecutor added that one teenage girl who went to Westwood seeking help with acting was “forced to act out the most inappropriate scenes,” and a second teenage who was also vying for acting lessons was sexually assaulted and coerced into engaging in sexual activity.
“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,” Wallace said, adding that Westwood would touch the girl, then himself, and then rape her.
“As fame beckons, he met two impressionable 16-year-olds and used his revered position to abuse them,” the prosecutor added.
The jury was also told that Westwood said, “Do what your teacher says” in response to the girl questioning and challenging his demands.
Wallace added that Westwood told the second teenager to undress after showing her a Greek mythology script depicting a scene between a father and daughter.
The teen reportedly said that she had initially refused, calling the incident “weird,” but ultimately decided to undress herself “only because [Westwood] kept going on about it.” The actor then touched her breast and vaginal area and the girl felt “disgusted.”
Jurors also heard about a third victim who prosecutors said was pinned down by her wrists by Westwood. She then bit the actor in an effort to escape.
“She said he held me down and shouted at me and she’d say ‘I don’t want to have sex’. He would say ‘you have got to lie there,'” Wallace said.
The actor was also reportedly convicted of pressuring a boy — between the age of nine and 10 — to engage in sexual activity.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.