Police have opened a criminal investigation into “a number of allegations of non-recent serious sexual offences” involving David Walliams.
The entertainer is being investigated over claims that he used his celebrity status to groom schoolgirls and pursue young women.
The allegations are separate from those reported by ITN and The Guardian, the Metropolitan Police said.
Walliams, 55, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl, targeting another teenager while she was preparing for her GCSE mock exams and sexually harassing several other young women.
The comedian, who denies wrongdoing, tried to stop the allegations from becoming public during a High Court legal battle with the media. The court heard that he threatened to take his own life if the women’s claims were published.
He applied for an injunction, but a judge rejected the request and allowed The Guardian and ITV News to publish an investigation on Tuesday outlining the allegations.
Since then, several women have come forward with claims of criminal conduct, prompting Scotland Yard to begin a formal investigation.
The force said in a statement this afternoon: “In recent days, the Met has received a number of allegations of non-recent serious sexual offences involving a man now in his 50s.
“Those who have come forward are being supported by specialist officers.”
David Walliams has been accused of sexual misconduct and abusing his position to groom teenagers
Walliams is pictured at the 2004 Comedy Awards, where Little Britain won the top prize
“The allegations are separate from those reported by ITN and The Guardian. However, as part of their investigation, detectives are also proactively reviewing that reporting to establish whether there is any evidence of offences.”
The force is understood not to have received any reports before these latest allegations were made.
Detective Superintendent Mike Cagney, whose team is leading the inquiry, said: “We would encourage anyone who has been the victim of a sexual offence to come forward and speak to us, no matter when it happened.
“We know reporting allegations of this nature can be daunting, but specialist officers are available to provide support, answer questions and guide you through the process.”
The millionaire star of television shows including Little Britain and Come Fly With Me, as well as a successful children’s author once described as the “new Roald Dahl”, has denied preying on young women.
He has admitted behaving “thoughtlessly” at times but said: “I am not a sexual predator.”
A woman identified as Jade said she was 15 in 2007 when Walliams, then a judge on Britain’s Got Talent, molested her.
She said he contacted her through MySpace, the messaging platform that predated Facebook, and asked for her phone number. They spoke about “where I lived, what I do in school”, she alleged.
They arranged to meet in Soho, where Walliams, then 36, bought her coffee before taking her into an alleyway and kissing her, according to her account.
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She said he then drove her in his Aston Martin to his home, Supernova Heights, the Primrose Hill mansion once owned by Oasis star Noel Gallagher. There, she alleged, he “lifted my top up and sucked on my breast and then tried to put my hand down his trousers”.
She said: “That’s when I pulled away and said no. I was only 15. It’s a sexual assault. It’s grooming. It’s completely wrong in every way.”
Lawyers representing Walliams said he had never groomed young women and denied that he had any sexual contact with Jade.
They have previously described the allegations as false.
Another woman, identified only as Alex, alleged that Walliams groomed her when she was 15 and studying for her GCSE mock exams after meeting him at a Little Britain fan event.
David Walliams arrives for Britain’s Got Talent auditions in London in January 2022
Alex’s mother took a photograph as her daughter handed Walliams comedy sketches she had written. A few days later, Alex said, he called her and introduced himself by saying: “Hi, it’s David Walliams. You know, off the telly.”
They discussed her school, exams and her approaching 16th birthday, it was claimed.
Walliams helped her with her writing and offered to arrange work experience for her in television.
She said they had consensual sex when she was 17, in 2005, but added: “It felt very… pushy. I felt like a prostitute, essentially. I think I was groomed, 100 per cent.”
Walliams’ lawyers said he believed Alex was 18 when they had sex and was “mortified to learn” that their “brief, consensual relationship has caused her sadness”.
Abby Tomlinson, now a senior aide to Andy Burnham in Downing Street, is among those who have spoken publicly.
Tomlinson, then a 17-year-old Britain’s Got Talent fan in 2015, said she found herself in Walliams’ dressing room alongside girls aged 13, 16 and 17, with no other adult present.
She told The Guardian: “The door was shut and we were alone with him.”
Walliams’ lawyers said the account was misleading.
Sarah, another Britain’s Got Talent fan, said she was invited to Walliams’ home when she was 18. She alleged that he got her drunk, stroked her leg and then tried to lead her to bed.
Lilly Creightmore, a former model, alleged that Walliams “constantly pestered” her for sex when she was 18 in 2003.
The High Court was told that Walliams was sectioned under the Mental Health Act for his own safety on October 22.
He remains in a psychiatric hospital.
