David Walliams just lost his injunction fight and is named over grooming allegations
2 days ago · 11 November 2026Share
David Walliams. File photo. Sean Reynolds from Liverpool, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0
David Walliams has just been named as the man who tried to stop the press printing sexual misconduct allegations against him.
He lost. And now the allegations are out.
Walliams is 55. He's the comedian and children's author behind Little Britain and dozens of kids' books.
So what happened?
The Guardian and ITV News spent three years on this investigation. They couldn't publish it. Walliams went to the High Court to stop them.
He lost that fight about a day ago.
Mr Justice Matthew Nicklin is the judge who threw out his bid. He said blocking the story would be quote "an exceptionally serious interference" with the media's right to publish.
Here's the hard part. The judge agreed Walliams' suicide risk was real. He just didn't think it was certain enough to outweigh the public's right to know.
Walliams didn't appeal. So his name came off the injunction, and the story went out.
Now, what are the allegations?
Multiple women say Walliams used his fame to pursue young women. Some say they were teenagers at the time.
One woman, called 'Jade' in the reporting, says Walliams was 36 when he contacted her and invited her to his house. She was 15. She alleges grooming and sexual assault.
Walliams' lawyers deny any sexual contact with her ever happened.
A second woman, called 'Alex', says she met Walliams at a Little Britain fan event in 2004. She was 15 then too. She says sexual contact began when she was 17.
Walliams says he believed she was 18 at the time.
And there's more. The investigation also alleges inappropriate conduct towards young women at Britain's Got Talent, where Walliams was a judge, and at HarperCollins, his old publisher.
HarperCollins dropped him as an author back in December, after its own investigation into alleged harassment of young women.
So how strong is the evidence?
In court, the media's lawyer, Gavin Millar KC, said reporters spoke to more than 100 people. Over 30 of them gave first-hand accounts.
The rest of this story is for members.
High Court of Justice, London. File photo.Bjørn Erik Pedersen · CC BY-SA 4.0
Walliams' lawyer, Sara Mansoori KC, told the court something serious too. She said Walliams attempted suicide after getting letters from the news organisations, made a second attempt, and was detained under the Mental Health Act last month.
That hearing ran two days.
Walliams denies all of it. In his statement to the Guardian and ITV News, he said quote "I am not a sexual predator… I have not broken the law."
He also said he's devastated some of the women he met ten to twenty years ago now feel hurt or angry towards him. And he said he behaved thoughtlessly towards some former partners, and regrets not taking their feelings properly into account.
Now watch how fast everyone else has moved.
The BBC says it's in the process of removing some Walliams programmes, Little Britain included, and reviewing everything else he's in.
His literary agency, Independent Talent Group, says it's no longer representing him in any capacity.
Alton Towers has shut its World of David Walliams attraction for good. That happened earlier this month.
The Labour Party has suspended his membership.
And Downing Street, speaking for Prime Minister Andy Burnham, called the allegations deeply troubling.
What about the police?
The Metropolitan Police says it's contacted the Guardian and ITV News, to make sure any potential victims know how to report criminal allegations. No charges have been brought. None.
But here's the part that goes beyond Walliams himself.
This case has reopened a row over injunctions. Alex Davies-Jones, the minister who answered questions on this in the Commons, says the government is concerned about injunctions being used to suppress reporting, and is looking at what more it can do.
Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, asked the government what it's doing to stop abuse of process. His point? Walliams stayed anonymous the entire time he was fighting to keep this quiet.
Walliams has sold more than 60 million copies of his children's books.
And right now, nothing has been proven in any court.
What's not known yet is whether police open a criminal investigation, how far the BBC's review and others like it go, and whether any civil or criminal case follows.
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