London’s police have opened an investigation into allegations of serious sexual offences involving the comedian and children’s author David Walliams, in a case that has rapidly come to dominate the UK headlines.
The Metropolitan Police said on Friday it had received a number of allegations of non-recent serious sexual offences involving a man now in his 50s. Detectives are treating the claims as allegations of grooming and sexual abuse of girls and young women, and are reviewing the reporting published by ITV News and The Guardian to establish whether there is any evidence of offences.
What we know
Al Jazeera and The Guardian reported over the weekend that the allegations dated back as far as 2003, with the two outlets saying they spoke to more than 100 people during a three-year investigation. One woman said Walliams sexually assaulted her at his London home when she was 15; others accused him of grooming them as teenagers and harassing young female colleagues.
The reports came out a day after comedian Russell Brand was sentenced to more than 10 years in jail for rape and sexual assault, keeping the subject of sexual abuse at the centre of the UK news cycle.
Why it matters
Walliams rose to fame through sketch shows including Little Britain and Come Fly With Me, and was a judge on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent. He also wrote children’s books that have reportedly sold more than 50 million copies, including Mr Stink, Gangsta Granny and The Boy in the Dress.
Walliams, 55, denies the allegations. His literary agency, Independent Talent Group, said it was no longer representing him in any capacity, while his publisher, HarperCollins, dropped him last year following accusations that he harassed female staff, which he had also denied.
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The response
In a letter to ITV and The Guardian, Walliams wrote: “Whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, abusing that power is something else entirely and it is something that I never did. I am not a sexual predator… I have not broken the law.”
A spokesperson for the BBC told the AFP news agency that it had taken down some shows involving Walliams, including all episodes of Little Britain, the comedy sketch show that made him famous.
What happens next
Detectives are reviewing the reporting published by ITV News and The Guardian to establish whether there is any evidence of offences. The Met said the new allegations are separate to those reported earlier in the week, but that detectives were proactively reviewing that reporting to establish whether there was any evidence of offences.
Detective Superintendent Mike Cagney urged anyone affected to come forward, saying he wanted to reassure those who had been affected by the allegations that the Met was treating the case with the urgency it demanded. The force said it would consider any further evidence submitted by members of the public.
The investigation has drawn comparisons with the Russell Brand sentencing earlier in the week, which focused public attention on the wider issue of sexual offending involving public figures and the way institutions handle accusations of this kind.
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