David Walliams faces investigation over alleged sexual assault of 15-year-old girl

David Walliams is facing a police investigation after he was accused of grooming and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

The best-selling children’s author, 55, who used an injunction in an attempt to prevent the allegations being made public, is said to have kissed and groped the teenager at his north London home when he was 36.

Scotland Yard said on Tuesday that it had contacted The Guardian and ITV following their investigation into Walliams’ alleged offending. The force said it wanted to ensure that potential victims knew they could report any criminal allegations to the police.

The Telegraph first revealed allegations against Walliams last year, publishing details of how he “harassed” junior female employees at his publisher, HarperCollins.

A joint investigation by ITV News and The Guardian now alleges inappropriate behaviour and sexual misconduct dating back to 2003.

One woman, named only as Jade, described how Walliams contacted her via social media in 2007, when she was 15. After arranging to meet her in Soho, central London, and kissing her in an alleyway, he drove her to his house in his Aston Martin before allegedly sexually assaulting her on his sofa.

She added: “I struggle with it sometimes, if I think about it a bit too much about the reality of what happened. It’s a sexual assault. It’s grooming. It’s completely wrong in every way.”

Another woman, named as Alex, described how she met Walliams at a Little Britain event when she was 15 and began having sex with him two years later.

She said: “My body reacts when I think about it. It’s like a trauma response. I think I was groomed, 100 per cent.”

Following the publication of the women’s accounts, a Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We’re aware of reports in the media in relation to allegations involving a man in his 50s.

“The Met has not received any related reports of sexual assault or any other offences. Should we receive any reports, they will be carefully assessed. Anyone who contacts the police will be supported by specialist officers.

“Last week, we contacted the media organisations that were involved in civil proceedings relating to the protection of the identity of that individual, to ensure that any potential victims whom they have spoken to could be made aware of how they could report any criminal allegations to police.”

While the police have not yet been contacted directly by any of the complainants, the allegations published in the media could result in a criminal investigation as under-16s cannot legally consent to sexual activity.

After the allegations emerged on Tuesday, Walliams was dropped by his literary agency, Independent Talent Group.

A BBC spokesman said the corporation was in the process of removing some programs, including Little Britain, while it carried out a review of “all material featuring and written by David Walliams on our platforms”.

Walliams also had his Labour Party membership suspended. The comedian often voiced his support for Labour, including backing Andy Burnham in his 2015 party leadership bid. Downing Street on Tuesday described the allegations as “deeply troubling”.

In addition to several allegations of grooming, Walliams has been accused of sexual harassment on the set of Britain’s Got Talent.

In total, about 30 women have come forward to make claims against the former Little Britain star, who was awarded an OBE in 2017 for services to charity and the arts.

Lilly Creightmore, an aspiring model, described how she was 18 when Walliams, then 31, spotted her in an advertising campaign for the underwear brand Agent Provocateur, tracked down her details and contacted her in 2003.

She said she stayed at his home and he made it clear he wanted sex, but she always declined.

She told the news organisations: “He would plead with me to share a bed with him and paw at me, trying to make me feel sorry for him.

“He definitely crossed the line physically in moments when I was young, trying to coerce me into sleeping with him.”

Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight, Ms Creightmore claimed she felt pressured to have sex with Mr Walliams after he told her she could be his flatmate.

She said: “In the evenings, he would sort of come and sit with me and stroke my leg, and one night I think he put his head in my lap to sort of be like, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to come and sleep in my bed with me?’ I had an inner strength like, ‘No I’m not attracted to you in that way’… I felt I was being manipulated.”

Ella, another model, said she was aged 19 when she was contacted out of the blue by Walliams in 2007. After inviting her to his home, he showed her into his bedroom where he tried to kiss her, but she managed to duck out of the way and escape.

The Telegraph first revealed concerns about Walliams’s behaviour towards young women last year when an investigation by this newspaper found that he had been accused of harassing junior female employees at HarperCollins.

Speaking to The Telegraph on Tuesday, former staff accused senior executives of failing to respond to concerns about Walliams because he was the “goose that laid the golden egg”.

On Tuesday, Walliams was named as the celebrity who had tried to silence news organisations with the injunction.

His legal team had told a judge that it was feared that he would take his own life in the event of publication, which would therefore breach his right to life. He has denied any wrongdoing.

In a statement to The Guardian and ITV News, the comedian said: “Looking back, I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with … I realise I did not always take people’s feelings properly into account. That is something I regret.

“And 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 … I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me.”

Walliams, who is understood to be in a psychiatric facility, lost his High Court battle to avoid being named after initially obtaining an interim order that prevented his identification.

The reporting restrictions were lifted because he decided not to appeal against a decision by Mr Justice Matthew Nicklin to dismiss his claim, despite his lawyers warning he was a suicide risk, having already made two unsuccessful attempts since he had become aware of the media investigation in May this year.

Walliams appeared on comedy shows alongside Russell Brand several times during the 2000s and 2010s. On Monday, Brand was sentenced to 10 years and six months in jail for raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others between 2004 and 2009.

The Telegraph, London

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.