Alexander Westwood’s victims say ache will final endlessly

Actor Alexander Westwood carried out a list of sexual abuse, and was jailed on Tuesday for offences that included rape.

The case centred on the expertise of 5 victims, 4 of whom have been youngsters on the time, with the youngest aged six.

In some cases, Westwood, from Albrighton, Shropshire – who appeared as a background participant in high-profile TV dramas – used his career to allow his behaviour, ensnaring two girls to whom he offered acting lessons. Others fell into his sphere in numerous methods.

Since his conviction in December, the BBC has spoken to 2 of his victims and the mom of one other. What follows is an account of the ordeal – by these whose lives he darkened.

It’s an account that 24-year-old Westwood – an additional on Netflix sequence Intercourse Training and the BBC’s Docs – hoped you’ll by no means learn.

All names have been modified to protect anonymity.

“Nothing will ever take the ache away,” stated Jayne.

Her daughter was one of many youngsters Westwood abused.

The offending got here to gentle when the lady confided in a household buddy, some years after it started, that she had been abused by Westwood over a sustained interval.

Jayne was alerted after which spoke to her daughter, asking her to put in writing down every little thing that had occurred.

“I felt sick studying what he’d performed to her,” Jayne stated. “And it was a really lengthy record.”

She informed the BBC: “He scared her into not having the ability to converse out so she carried this secret for a really very long time.”

From that time it took three years for the case to get to courtroom, with Jayne calling day by day “a dwelling nightmare”.

“It is a very very long time to stay that, day-in day-out, and it consumes you, [it] takes over the entire of your life.”

As for her daughter, she stated: “She will’t eat, she will be able to’t sleep. Even to today she wakes up having nightmares that he is on the backside of her mattress.”

The revelation of Westwood’s abuse has shaken the household, and despite the fact that he’s behind bars, Jayne is aware of that no sentence will ever take away what he has performed.

“The ache’s there endlessly,” she stated.

“He boils my blood. I hate him.”

“He misplaced a online game and hit me over the pinnacle with an Xbox controller,” Anna-Marie remembered of Westwood.

She was 17 on the time and he was her boyfriend, aged practically 19.

His sentencing on Tuesday displays his sexual assault of her alongside together with his different crimes.

They met within the West Midlands after he despatched her a direct message on Instagram. Dates adopted.

Anna-Marie stated she remembered her mom telling her to watch out about “love bombing” when Westwood purchased her tickets to look at her dream West Finish present. That they had been collectively for simply two weeks.

“Till we moved in collectively, I might say he was a bit conceited however only a regular individual seemingly,” she stated.

“However once we moved in, [the situation] was simply escalating and escalating.”

She informed the BBC that police have been known as to Birmingham New Avenue railway station when he began shouting at her. She additionally described incidents the place he had smashed ingesting glasses and plates.

Then got here the incident with the online game.

“He was telling my mother I wanted to be dedicated to a psychiatric establishment,” Anna-Marie recalled. “He was telling me ‘it is advisable to be on treatment, you are loopy’.”

The couple separated.

Anna-Marie was later contacted by police as a part of inquiries into the broader case and her sexual assault emerged to prosecutors.

She now suffers from nervousness and insomnia, and is on high-dose sleeping treatment. “In any other case I’ll actually have nightmares of him grabbing me and smiling,” she stated.

She added: “I really feel afraid quite a lot of the time once I go to new cities, and even in my metropolis.

“It is basically crippled my life.”

About eight years in the past, in an space of the West Midlands, Elsie was in a relationship with Westwood when she was 13 and he was 16.

That they had began as buddies with comparable pursuits, however Elsie says the connection shortly developed.

She informed the BBC that after a couple of months, Westwood pressured her into sexual behaviour, sending her internet hyperlinks to content material he would ask her to mimic with him.

“It positively did not really feel regular,” she stated.

“Nevertheless, the best way that he was with me made me really feel very safe, so I type of thought ‘I might belief this man, why would he do something to harm me’?

However there was manipulation.

“He would say issues to me like ‘for those who do not do it with me, individuals my very own age will’, and I did not wish to lose that reference to him as a result of it was one I actually relied on fairly shortly.

“At 13, feeling you’ve got misplaced your first ever relationship you’ve got had – he was the primary absolute every little thing for me – it was terrifying.”

Elsie’s expertise, nonetheless, didn’t kind a part of the trial.

She stated that when police turned conscious of the connection – whereas it was nonetheless taking place – and arrested him, Westwood reassured her it was only a “gray space within the legislation” and that they’d each be nice.

The case didn’t proceed, though it was reopened years later when different allegations about Westwood emerged, however the inquiry once more didn’t proceed.

Elsie thought her expertise would then kind a part of the case that was tried in December, however she stated when she attended proceedings, she was informed police had misplaced video proof from when she was 13.

She additionally informed the BBC a police officer within the courtroom informed the prosecution that Elsie had not wished to carry expenses in opposition to Westwood – which was not the case.

The claims have been put to the West Midlands pressure which stated it investigated an allegation in opposition to Westwood following a 3rd social gathering report that he had incited sexual exercise with a baby aged below 16.

“Sadly, because of an absence of forensic and digital proof the report was filed,” a spokesperson stated, including, nonetheless, “the investigation was re-opened in 2023 on the request of the CPS” which was reviewing expenses in opposition to Westwood.

“We submitted a file to CPS and on evaluation they determined they would not be pursuing a cost for this case.

“CPS supplied the sufferer a Proper to Evaluate, however this was declined.”

Elsie says she is now left pondering consistently in regards to the proof that did get heard in courtroom.

“I went in actually not understanding what I might hear and it was worse than I might ever have truly imagined it could be,” she stated.

“I sat there and I do not assume I’ll ever get better from listening to that, and what he is performed to individuals.”

Years after her relationship with Westwood, Elsie stated she felt let down that authorities didn’t do extra to assist on the time.

“It is nonetheless all the time going to play on my thoughts, why did not [my] college shield me extra, why did not individuals in my life near me push to attempt to get issues out of me, why did not the police say ‘look that is actually fairly critical’ to me?

“The actual fact he is ever laid his arms on me makes me wish to die. It is so simple as that.

“I couldn’t be extra disgusted by anyone if I attempted. I feel he is evil.”

Jayne, Elsie, and Anna-Marie all informed the BBC they believed Westwood’s function as an actor had enabled his behaviour.

Jayne stated: “He is used that to his personal benefit to abuse a number of ladies.”

The three additionally spoke of Westwood’s narcissism, with Elsie saying his “ego shone by way of” even whereas within the dock.

She stated: “I feel listening to the influence he is had on individuals he would truly in all probability fairly like.”

Jayne echoed the view, including: “I feel he seems to love the limelight. He likes the eye.”

However amid that judgment, there may be additionally reward – for the victims, for his or her bravery.

“I am happy with [my daughter],” stated Jayne.

“I am happy with her for standing as much as him, I am happy with her for having the power to undergo courtroom.”