‘I feel let down over police dropping my rape case against Alexander Westwood’

A woman has said she feels let down after police dropped her rape case against Alexander Westwood, an actor who has since been convicted of 26 sexual abuse and rape charges.

The 23-year-old, who the BBC is calling Zoe, says she was raped twice by the Sex Education extra in 2024, who at the time was on bail in regards to other sexual offences.

Zoe told the BBC she became pregnant and sent a text to Westwood, telling him that she was going to have an abortion. She believes this is the reason her case was dropped by West Midlands Police.

However, police said they had “recovered a significant amount of digital material which undermined the case”.

West Midlands Police said this meant officers “did not have sufficient evidence for a prosecution.”

Although charges were not pressed against Westwood in relation to Zoe, he was jailed in February for a litany of sexual abuse and rape charges against five victims, four of whom were children at the time.

Zoe said: “It hurts me knowing I didn’t get that sort of justice, but knowing others did makes me feel better.

“I’m just happy he’s put away and can’t hurt anyone for the foreseeable.”

Warning: This story contains details some readers may find distressing

Zoe had started out as friends with Westwood, who is from Albrighton in Shropshire, after the pair met online and bonded over their mutual love of Doctor Who.

When Zoe entered into a new relationship and had a child, she said her relationship with him “broke down” and the pair did not speak for several years.

However, a few years later, the pair reconnected via a dating app and started chatting.

Zoe said she invited Westwood over to her West Midlands home, where the pair initially caught up on what they had been doing with their lives and watched a film.

It was May 2024, and it was the first time they had ever met in private.

“Initially it was fine,” Zoe said. “Then it wasn’t fine. He raped me twice.”

At first, Zoe said she did not want to go to the police. However, that changed after she found news articles about the actor being charged with sexual offences back in August 2023.

“When I read that, I just felt I had to do something about this,” Zoe said. “I can’t let him get away with anything else.”

Zoe made a report to the police two days later, with Westwood arrested and bailed the same week. He had already been on bail in relation to his charges from 2023.

But before long, Zoe discovered she was pregnant.

“I didn’t want to believe it,” she said. “I thought maybe my periods were all over the place and I was getting false positives.”

Zoe said she then sent a text to Westwood, telling him she was pregnant as a result of what he had done to her and that she would be having an abortion.

“At the time I thought [telling him] was the best thing to do,” she said.

“I couldn’t deal with that by myself because of how it happened. I couldn’t tell my family.”

Police became aware of the text message, with the officer in charge of the investigation asking to see it.

“I felt very stupid knowing it was because I texted him,” she said. “It was an influx of emotion.”

West Midlands Police said it had carried out “a thorough investigation into an allegation of rape made against Alexander Westwood”, which was further reviewed by a senior officer who “examined all of the evidence presented”.

But the force said following the review, “evidential digital material was considered to undermine the case and therefore it was felt there was no realistic prospect of conviction”.

“West Midlands Police recognise the impact the actions of Alexander Westwood have had on women and girls and we will continue to review any new evidence that is brought to our attention,” the force added.

Zoe’s mental health quickly plummeted in the wake of what happened.

She told the BBC she was sectioned after trying to take her own life, one week after Westwood allegedly raped her.

She spent two weeks in hospital and a further two weeks in a mental health facility.

“I felt so dirty, I thought I wouldn’t be able to get past it,” she said.

Zoe has struggled with her mental health over the past year, and said what had happened with Westwood “makes me feel sick”.

“It’s really affected me. It’s making its way into my relationships with other people,” she said.

“I don’t really have any trust for them. He said the same – [that] he’d never hurt me.”

Zoe said the experience had also triggered an eating disorder in her as she “just wanted to look different”.

“Sometimes I can’t stand to look at myself. In my flat, I’ve had to take away every single mirror – [so I can’t see] all the parts of my body he touched without permission.”

It also disrupted her ability to be intimate.

“Sometimes with my ex-partner, when trying things, sometimes it felt like bullets, being touched,” she said.

“It felt like I was being shot. It makes me feel dirty all the time.”

Zoe attended Westwood’s sentencing at Wolverhampton Crown Court, where he was jailed for 15-and-a-half years after being convicted of 26 charges against five victims, including children, acting pupils and an ex-girlfriend.

“I was sat three seats away from the dock,” Zoe said. “He was just sat there with a smirk on his face, looking proud of it.

“I don’t think [the sentence] was enough at all – but it’s better than him being out and about. The second he left the dock it felt like a weight was lifted.”

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found at the BBC’s Action Line.