David Walliams investigated by police over ‘serious sexual offences’

Detective Superintendent Mike Cagney, whose team is leading the investigation, 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.”

Walliams was named as the celebrity who had attempted to prevent the media from reporting the sex abuse and grooming allegations earlier this week.

Among the published claims was an allegation from a woman, known by the pseudonym Jade, who accused the children’s author of kissing and groping her at his north London home when she was 15 and he was 36.

Describing the alleged incident, Jade said: “He lifted my top up and sucked on my breast, and then tried to put my hand down his trousers. And that’s when I pulled away and said no. He had an erection at the time. I wasn’t ready for sex.”

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 a grooming. It’s completely wrong in every way.”

It is understood that about 30 women have come forward to make claims against Walliams, who was awarded an OBE in 2017 for services to charity and the arts.

Another woman, named as Alex, described how she had met the comedian 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.”

The Telegraph first revealed claims against Walliams in December 2025, publishing details of how he had allegedly harassed junior female employees at his publisher, HarperCollins.

The comedian was dropped by his literary agency, Independent Talent Group, after the allegations emerged.

Walliams applied for an injunction after the Guardian and ITV approached him for comment regarding a lengthy investigation into his alleged behaviour.

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

In a statement addressing the allegations, Walliams 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 which prevented his identification.

The reporting restrictions were lifted because he decided not to appeal against a decision by Justice Nicklin to dismiss his claim.

A BBC spokesman said the corporation was in the process of removing some programmes, 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 supporting Andy Burnham in his 2015 leadership campaign.

Downing Street has described the allegations as “deeply troubling”.

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