London’s Metropolitan Police has opened an investigation into a series of alleged “serious” sexual offences involving television personality David Walliams.
The force said it had received several non-recent allegations against the former Britain’s Got Talent judge “in recent days”.
In a statement issued this afternoon, the Met said the complaints were separate from allegations previously reported by ITV News and The Guardian.
However, officers are also examining those reports “to establish whether there is any evidence of offences”, the force said.
Mr Walliams denies any wrongdoing.
Detective Superintendent Mike Cagney, whose team is overseeing the investigation, urged anyone who believes they have been the victim of a sexual offence to contact police, regardless of when the alleged incident occurred.
“We know reporting allegations of this nature can be daunting but specialist officers are on hand to provide support, answer questions and guide you through the process,” he said.
The Met has not said how many alleged offences have been reported, nor detailed the accusations made against Mr Walliams.
Police have also declined to confirm when or where the alleged incidents are said to have happened.
Mr Walliams has yet to respond publicly to Tuesday’s reports by The Guardian and ITV News.
In a letter believed to have been sent several months ago to journalists involved in the investigations, the television personality rejected the description of himself as a “sexual predator”.
He acknowledged that he had “behaved thoughtlessly” on occasions and said he regretted failing to take people’s feelings “properly into account”, while maintaining that he had not broken the law.
The reports published on Tuesday came after Mr Walliams unsuccessfully sought an injunction to prevent the media from identifying him. His lawyers argued there was a risk he could take his own life, citing two previous suicide attempts.
Judge Nicklin rejected the application, describing an injunction as an “exceptionally serious interference” with freedom of expression.
Several sources alleged that Mr Walliams had behaved inappropriately towards women on the prime-time programme BGT, where he was a judge from 2012 to 2022, and at his publisher HarperCollins, which dropped him last year.
The allegations were followed by his removal from the books of literary agency Independent Talent Group. The BBC also began taking his programmes, including Little Britain, off iPlayer, while his membership of the Labour Party was suspended.
