'My rapist actor ex boyfriend is a disgusting monster'

A woman who was sexually abused by her actor-boyfriend has described him as a "disgusting monster" and said she still has nightmares because of him.

Rogan Taylor, who has waived her right to anonymity, began dating Alexander Westwood in 2018, when she was 17.

Westwood, who had minor roles in BBC's Doctors and Netflix's Sex Education, was jailed for 15-and-a-half years in 2025 after being found guilty of sexual offences against five victims including Taylor, who said his sentence was "not enough".

"It's an experience that can never go away, I was scared for ages that it might happen again, I was scared I'd marry someone and they'd turn out to be an abuser," she said.

Warning: Some people may find details in this story distressing.

Taylor, now a 24-year-old university student who lives in the Midlands, said she met Westwood while studying for her A-Levels, after he messaged her on social media.

In the beginning, she said he would shower her with gifts, including tickets to a theatre show in London, and they moved in together after just 10 months of dating.

"I had only had one boyfriend before by this point, and I didn't understand why people liked me," Taylor said.

"It was so exciting for me to have a boyfriend that was so interested in me and doing all these things for me."

Taylor said the relationship initially appeared to be going well, but later they began arguing.

By 2021, she said, Westwood began shouting at her almost every day and would hit her over the head with a video game controller if he lost a game.

She said she began having panic attacks and it was around that time he began sexually abusing her.

She said Westwood, from Albrighton in Shropshire, would initiate sex and would continue despite her clearly saying "no".

Taylor said he would "put his fingers inside me, and I'd try to push him away and I used to bite him when he was restraining me".

She said the abuse led her to attempt suicide and she also began self-harming.

"I just wanted things to stop. I felt like he was controlling me," she said.

Their relationship ended in 2022 and at the beginning of 2023 her new boyfriend told her what she had experienced was "not normal" and "illegal", so she reported the abuse to police in the same year.

The following summer she said police contacted her to say they were building a case against Westwood and that there were other reports of sexual abuse.

At that stage, Taylor said she was "in shock" and did not want to give evidence in person when it went to court, so she completed a video interview with the police instead.

She said: "I was feeling the same dehumanisation feelings explaining it. It all felt so fresh and raw. It was really hard."

When the case went before Wolverhampton Crown Court in November 2024, the trial heard Westwood's offending began when he was aged 10, when he sexually abused a six-year-old.

After hearing other complainants give evidence, Taylor said: "I was gobsmacked – I didn't realise the ages of some of the victims."

What she had heard convinced her to give evidence herself and said: "It was a really long cross-examination. I cried a lot on the stand. It was really upsetting."

The court heard he was "highly manipulative and controlling" to Taylor, who he held down "every few weeks", and told her to lay there despite telling him she did not want to have sex.

Westwood smirked in the dock as details of his offending were read out.

But Taylor said she felt supported and she and the other victims set up a group chat to help each other.

She said: "I'd message and say I was having nightmares, and we'd talk about how we're all suffering."

Westwood denied the allegations against him but was convicted of 26 sexual offences against five victims – a girl whose abuse began when she was six, a boy aged between nine and 10, two teenage girls who had come to him for acting tuition, and Taylor.

She said she told the trial he had ruined her life and that she needed sleep medication because of her nightmares.

Taylor said she was "so happy" when she heard the guilty verdicts and posted a video on social media to show the world photos of her abuser.

"I wanted people to see his face when he gets out so it never happens to anyone else again," she said.

"[But]I remember thinking it's not enough for the scale of the crime and the impact on all these lives.

"I think it's an unfair sentence for somebody who showed no remorse."

Taylor is now studying for a master's degree and is also planning to pursue a PhD.

She said she felt lucky to have the support of her friends, family and boyfriend.

She also said she wished she had direct evidence of her abuse.

"Being able to provide evidence is such a huge thing, because with abuse, it can make you feel like nobody's ever going to believe you," she added.

That feeling has led her to endorse self-test DNA kits, such as those created by non-profit organisation Enough, which in principle can be used as evidence in court.

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