David Walliams named as subject of sexual misconduct investigation after injunction fails

The investigation

ITV News and the Guardian named David Walliams, 55, on Tuesday, 10 November, after a High Court judge refused his bid to stop them publishing. Walliams is a comedian, actor and children's author who was a judge on Britain's Got Talent. The investigation draws on testimony from 30 women and documents cases dating back to 2003. The accounts allege that he used his fame to make contact with girls and young women, including girls as young as 15. Further allegations concern inappropriate behaviour on the Britain's Got Talent set and at the publisher HarperCollins.

Two alleged cases and the injunction

One woman says she was 15 in 2007, when Walliams was 36, and that he sexually assaulted her at his home after they met in person that August. Walliams denies any sexual contact with her. Another woman says she met him at a London fan event in January 2004, when she was 15, and that she had sexual contact with him at 17. His lawyers argued that publication posed a risk to his mental health. High Court judge Matthew Nicklin dismissed the bid, calling the measure an exceptionally serious interference with the rights of the media companies. Nicklin noted a serious and longstanding psychiatric vulnerability that had to be taken seriously, and protection of Walliams's identity lasted until late on Monday, 9 November.

Walliams's response

Walliams denies the allegations. In a letter sent several months ago to the journalists working on the investigation, he wrote that he sometimes behaved thoughtlessly toward people he had casual sexual relationships with, and said he regrets it. He wrote that a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, but that abusing that power is something he never did. He added that he is devastated that some women he met 10 to 20 years ago have expressed hurt or anger towards him.

“I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law.”

Police, businesses and publishers

The Metropolitan Police said it had not received any related reports and that any reports made to it would be carefully assessed. People can call 101 to report allegations. Downing Street described the allegations as deeply disturbing. Sky News reported that the Labour Party has suspended Walliams's membership. His literary agency, ITG, dropped him as a client and said it was "deeply disturbed by the allegations". The BBC is removing some programmes featuring him, including Little Britain. HarperCollins has stopped publishing new editions of his books, which it has said sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. Bookshops in Ireland have begun taking his children's titles off the shelves as orders have stopped.

“The Met has not received any related reports of sexual assault or any other offences.”

Political fallout

Justice minister Alex Davis-Jones told the Commons that the government is concerned about the growing use of privacy injunctions. Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy raised the case in the Commons and pointed to similar earlier cases involving Mohamed Al Fayed and Russell Brand. Davis-Jones said the government is looking at what more it can do, and that the minister for courts is examining SLAPP injunctions. She added that privacy injunction applications are considered independently by the courts.

“That includes looking at what we can do regarding injunctions.”

What comes next

The judgment summary said some of the alleged conduct could amount to criminal offences if proven. ITV has posted its documentary Power And Silence on YouTube ahead of its scheduled broadcast on ITV1.