David Walliams sexual misconduct allegations spark calls for better safeguarding

Allegations of sexual misconduct and grooming against David Walliams have sparked calls to make it easier to report concerns about the behaviour of powerful celebrities.

The best-selling author and former Britain’s Got Talent judge was named as part of an investigation by the Guardian and ITV News involving accusations of grooming teenage girls as young as 15 and abusing his position to pursue women.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the claims were the “latest in a long line of reported abuses of power” while comedian Lucy Beaumont called for better industry safeguarding processes.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she will convene a meeting of senior media figures (PA)

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Walliams, 55, has denied any wrongdoing and unsuccessfully tried to obtain an injunction to prevent the reporting of allegations against him.

He is yet to comment further since the publication of his name on Tuesday.

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

Ms Nandy pledged she would be meeting with senior media and entertainment industry members to “draw a line in the sand”.

She added: “A decade and a half on from the revelations about Jimmy Savile and 10 years on from the Me Too movement, we must finally take meaningful steps to end abuse and harassment in sectors where the power imbalances are huge and careers are built on contacts and reputation.”

The Culture Secretary’s comments also came the same week comedian Russell Brand was sentenced to 10-and-a-half-years behind bars for rape and sexual assault.

She previously called for greater protections in the media industry following Brand’s conviction.

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

The television personality said while he “behaved thoughtlessly” at times and regretted not taking people’s feelings “properly into account”, he had not broken the law.

The letter said: “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 sought the court injunction over concerns 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.

On Tuesday, comedian Lucy Beaumont called for better industry standards and better procedures for raising safeguarding issues.

Speaking to Sky News, she confirmed she had spoken with the Guardian about Walliams, though she had never met him.

David Walliams has denied accusations against him (Ian West/PA)

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She said: “I don’t know Walliams, I haven’t worked with him but, bizarrely, it’s been a really strange day for me because, about three years ago, a young person – and it was their first job on TV – worked on a show he was on and the next show that they worked on was with me.

“They took me aside and said, ‘I need to tell somebody something’ and confided in me.

“Some of (Walliams’) conduct that they were really worried about.”

Beaumont said the young person told her they had to “take young girls” who were “definitely” over 16 to Walliams’ dressing room, adding: “He felt they were vulnerable.”

Speaking about the TV industry, she said there was “no proper duty of care”.

Beaumont added: “These things slip through the net because, I think there will be now, but there hasn’t been a process that you can deal with.”

She said she had never worked with Walliams or witnessed any inappropriate behaviour from him but was “worried that these girls were young”.

Presenter Jonathan Ross said he was “horrified” by the allegations about David Walliams and the crimes of Russell Brand, adding that he was “genuinely unaware of their conduct”.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed it 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.

One woman, named by ITV News and the Guardian as Jade, said she was 15 and Walliams was 36 when they met in August 2007 and he invited her to his house.

She claimed what happened to her there was “sexual assault” and “grooming”, adding: “It’s completely wrong in every way.”

Walliams strongly denied to the publications that he had any sexual contact with Jade, adding that he rejects any allegations of criminal activity and he has never engaged in the grooming of young women.

After the allegations emerged on Tuesday, he was also dropped by his literary agency, Independent Talent Group, and the BBC began removing his shows, including Little Britain, from iPlayer.

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