Sex Education star 'made young teen actress strip and he groped her'

A Sex Education star ordered an aspiring teenage performer to go topless, strip naked and handled her breasts while he gave her acting lessons, a court heard today.

Alexander Westwood, 24, who starred in the hit TV show and films including action movie 'Outlawed', is accused of a series of sex crimes against children during acting classes.

Westwood from Albrighton, Shropshire, is on trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court charged with 26 sexual assault offences against children, including rape and forcing one youngster to read a script from Shakespeare naked.

Today one of his alleged victims described how he coerced her to strip naked and carry out a striptease after she went to his flat to ask advice about how to get into acting and help her compile a CV.

The witness who gave evidence in court today was 16 at the time of the alleged assaults.

Westwood is accused of two counts of sexual assault by touching her breast and vagina without her consent.

In a pre-recorded interview played to the jury the youngster told how Westwood told her to strip naked to 'get into character' and forced her to put his hands on her breasts.

She said: 'I went to Alex's house. I wanted to get into acting. We did some [acting] scenes. He wanted me to act.

'For one scene he asked me to be topless. And I did. For another scene he asked me to be completely naked.

'He wanted me to really get into character by being naked. In one of the scenes he put his hands on my breasts.

'He wanted me to take my clothes off in a sexy kind of way. I was fully naked, and he was telling me that I was good.

'It thought it was a bit weird. He said he wanted me to get into character.

'I was the daughter, and he was the father. It was something about a sexual relationship between a father and daughter. I felt disgusted by it.'

Under cross-examination the teenager denied making up the allegations against Westwood.

The court heard that the youngster's allegations only came to light following a visit from a social worker from Wolverhampton Children's Services in June 2023.

Today Westwood looked puffy-eyed and slightly dishevelled as he appeared in court. His dark-brown hair was sticking up and he was unshaven.

Wearing a thick, brown-checked overcoat and a shirt and tie under a crew-necked sweater, the actor looked down at the floor during the proceedings.

The attacks on the five children began when Westwood was just 10 years old and continued until three years ago, the court heard.

The 24-year-old allegedly sexually abused one girl over a seven-year period. 

Opening the case against Westwood earlier this week, Crown Prosecuting Counsel, Andrew Wallace, described the actor as a 'supreme manipulator' who was engaged in 'predatory behaviour'.

Mr Wallace told the jury: 'Alexander Westwood is an actor. He is a supreme manipulator. All these charges have a common theme, of inappropriate touching and predatory behaviour.

'The 10 indictments concerning a girl, the first charge is on the date of his 10th birthday, that is the date because there is no criminality before this age.'

Mr Wallace told the jury Westwood attacked one of his victims many more times than the 10 charges relating to her.

He added: 'If we were to list every instance there would be hundreds of charges.'

Westwood built up his profile by appearing in TV shows and films and then used his stardom to manipulate his 'pupils' while giving them acting lessons, the prosecution claimed.

However, one is his victims begged her mother to be 'admitted to a psychiatric hospital' because she feared she was 'going off the rails' the jury heard.

Mr Wallace added: 'Then when giving acting lessons, he again used this as an opportunity to touch his pupils inappropriately.

'These are schoolgirls we are talking about, teenagers.

'Imagine asking Dame Judy Dench to recite Hamlet naked? She would tell you where to go.'

Westwood faces 26 offences in all, including four counts of rape of a woman over 16.

He is also facing charges of forcing a young girl and boy to engage in sexual activity. 

Other charges include seven counts of sexual assault on a female, three counts of causing a child under 13 to watch a sexual act and three counts of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching. 

He denies all the charges and claims his alleged victims have various motivations to falsely accuse him of the charges. 

Westwood appeared in 17 episodes of the raunchy Netflix comedy as an 'unaccredited student', according to his IMDb profile. 

As well as starring in Sex Education, the actor also appeared in the BBC drama Doctors and 2018 action film Outlawed. 

His trial is expected to last around a month. His Honour Judge Neil Chawla adjourned the case at lunchtime.

The trial continues.