David Walliams accused of sexual misconduct and grooming girls as young as 15

The best-selling author and former Britain’s Got Talent judge, 55, was named as part of an investigation by the Guardian and ITV News on Tuesday, after he tried to obtain an injunction to prevent the reporting of allegations against him.

One woman described her alleged encounter with Walliams, when she was 15, as a “sexual assault”, while multiple women accused him of “grooming” them when they were teenagers.

Walliams denies any wrongdoing.

In a letter understood to have been sent several months ago by Walliams to journalists working on the investigations, the television personality denied being a “sexual predator”.

He said he recognised he “behaved thoughtlessly” at times, and regretted not taking people’s feelings “properly into account”, but insisted he had not broken the law.

The letter added: “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.”

Walliams has not yet responded to Tuesday’s reports that have named him as the subject of the allegations.

It follows his unsuccessful attempts to seek an injunction to prevent the publications because of the risk he would take his own life, after two previous suicide attempts.

Judge Mr Justice Nicklin refused the bid for an injunction, ruling it would be an “exceptionally serious interference” with freedom of expression.

The Metropolitan Police said it has contacted the Guardian and ITV News “to ensure that any potential victims” are “made aware of how they could report any criminal allegations to police”, after the sexual misconduct claims were made.

Several sources alleged inappropriate behaviour towards women at the prime-time show Britain’s Got Talent (BGT), where Walliams served as a judge from 2012 to 2022, and his publisher HarperCollins, which dropped him last year.

A spokesperson for HarperCollins UK said the publisher “previously terminated its publishing relationship” with Walliams, adding: “We take the safety of our people incredibly seriously.”

He was also dropped by his literary agency, Independent Talent Group, after the allegations were published and the BBC started to remove his shows, including Little Britain, from iPlayer.

Walliams had his Labour Party membership suspended and Downing Street described the allegations as “deeply troubling”.

Allegations made in the reports by ITV News and the Guardian include one from a woman known as Jade, who alleges what she describes as “sexual assault” and “grooming” after meeting him in 2007 when she was 15 and he was 36.

Another woman, named by the news organisations as Alex, also accused Walliams of grooming her, and alleged she was having sex with him by the time she was 17.

A young woman named Lilly Creightmore, who said she met Walliams when she was 18 at a live filming of Little Britain, alleges he was “trying to coerce me into sleeping with him” after claiming he asked her to stay in his bed every night.

A model, named as Ella, alleges Walliams tried to kiss her when they were alone after she met him at a party in 2007 when she was 19 and he was 36.

Walliams has vehemently denied all allegations made against him, rejects any allegations of criminal activity and said he has never engaged in the grooming of young women.

He also denies “buying” a junior BGT employee’s silence following allegations from a man, named as Mark, who claimed he received £300 from Walliams after he walked into his dressing room and found two “very young people” in there while the TV star was only wearing a towel.

A spokesperson for Fremantle UK, which makes BGT, said the company is “disturbed and concerned” at the “serious allegations”, but added that no complaint was ever made to them about his behaviour.

A former staff member at HarperCollins said normal working practices had to be changed around Walliams and young women were not sent on their own to his home.

It is alleged he had a sexual relationship with at least one junior employee and pursued another.

Walliams has sold more than 60 million copies of his children’s books globally.

They include The Boy In The Dress, Fing and Gangsta Granny, the latter of which was turned into a one-hour BBC special in 2013, followed by a sequel starring Sheridan Smith in 2022.

Walliams’ book publisher HarperCollins dropped him in December 2025 after an investigation into allegations that he had “harassed” young women, which Walliams denied.

Earlier this month, theme park Alton Towers permanently closed its World Of David Walliams attraction, which featured rides inspired by the books.

Walliams – who joined BGT as a judge in 2012 – left the panel in 2022 after he apologised for making “disrespectful comments” about auditioning contestants during filming breaks in January 2020 at the London Palladium.

In 2023, Fremantle apologised and reached an “amicable resolution” with Walliams after the remarks he made while on the show were leaked.

A spokesperson for ITV said production company Fremantle has day-to-day responsibility for the production of BGT, including “all aspects of duty of care” and compliance with “legal and regulatory obligations”.

“We expect the highest standards of all production companies who work with us, and to be notified of any duty of care concerns when they come to the producer’s attention,” the broadcaster said.