By Grâçia Ada Obi
A Sex Education star has appeared in court accused of sexual offences against children, including ‘forcing youngsters to read Shakespeare naked in acting classes.’
Alexander Westwood, The 24-year-old actor of Albrighton, Shropshire who starred in 17 episodes of the hit Netflix show is on trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, and charged with 26 sexual offences.
Westwood’s alleged crimes, which include rape, stretch back to before he was 10 years old and include 10 charges of sexual abuse of a girl over a seven-year period.
The actor denies the charges against him.
During a hearing on Monday 11 November, the court heard Westwood had been giving acting lessons to budding actresses, where he would allegedly force them to recite Shakespeare naked before taking part in nude role play scenes.
Westwood faces 26 offences in all, including four counts of rape of a woman over 16.
Other charges include, three counts of causing a female 13 or over to engage in a non-penetrative sexual activity, one count of inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity, seven counts of sexual assault on a female, three counts of causing a child under 13 to watch a sexual act, three counts of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching, two counts of inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity involving penetration and three counts of assaulting a female 13 and over by penetration.
The trial is expected to last around a month.
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.