‘I’m buying every David Walliams book I see in charity shops – to get them pulped’

A mother has gone on a mission to remove David Walliams’ children’s books from charity shops after sexual misconduct allegations about the comedian have come to light.

Mr Walliams, an author to dozens of books which have sold more than 50 million copies worldwide, has been accused of sexual misconduct and grooming girls as young as 15 in a joint investigation by The Guardian and ITV. The comedian allegedly used his celebrity status to prey on young girls, including on MySpace.

Jane Morton Driscoll, 41 from Oxfordshire, told The Independent that after hearing about the allegations, she visited all the charity shops to buy 11 of his books and have them pulped.

“I just went round all of the charity shops in my town and most of them still had at least one book showing,” she said. “I bought them so that the charity would still get some money, and then I took them home, and put them out of action.

“I ripped them up a bit so that they couldn't go back out on shelves, and then I took them back to a charity shop who agreed to have them pulped,” she added.

“So that way the charities got some money. They get some money for the pulping as well.”

Even prior to allegations coming out about Walliams, Ms Morton Driscoll said she wouldn’t allow her son to read them due to offensive stereotypes. For years, the author was accused of writing sexism, classism, fat-shaming and racist stereotypes.

In 2021, it was announced that a story containing “harmful stereotypes” about Chinese people was removed from Walliams’s 2016 book The World’s Worst Children.

She said that that the people in the charity shops were supportive of her endeavour, with many having already discussed whether his books should be on display. Even parents who have raised their children on the disgraced author’s books have told The Independent they would be throwing the tomes out following the news of the allegations.

Book retailer Waterstones said it would be returning the “small number of copies” it still has of his books to HarperCollins. Meanwhile, HarperCollins announced in September that it would phase out remaining copies of the author’s books after stating last year they would no longer publish him following allegations made about his conduct towards junior female employees at the publishing house.

Ms Morton Driscoll said that the news of the allegations “struck a nerve” with her due to her own experience of mistreatment in the workplace by men.

“It really struck a nerve with me”, she said. “A lot of women have spoken to me about also having bad experiences in the workplace.

“So it was quite healing for me to go around and do it. I feel really proud of myself that I've done something that's done a bit of good and it's helped me to heal from some experiences in my past as well.”

Asked if she would expand her operation and visit other towns, she said she hadn’t decided yet but she wouldn’t walk past a Walliams book if she saw one.

In a letter understood to have been sent several months ago by Mr Walliams to journalists working on the ITV News and Guardian investigations, he wrote: “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.”

He added: “I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law, but I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me.”