David Walliams has been accused of using his status as a well-known children’s author and comedian to pursue girls and young women for sex, including an allegation that he sexually assaulted one woman when she was 15.
The allegations were reported by ITV News and The Guardian after the organisations said they had spoken to multiple women. Walliams, 55, denies the claims and has said: “I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law.”
The entertainer had sought a High Court injunction to prevent the reports from identifying him. His lawyers argued that publication of the allegations could lead him to take his own life.
A judge rejected the application last week, although Walliams’ identity was protected until late Monday. The court was told that the allegations concerned his alleged “abuse of power and status” and attempts to contact young women for “inappropriate sexual activity”.
Some of the alleged conduct could amount to criminal offences if proven, according to a summary of the judgment. The claims have not been tested in court.
Walliams’ barrister, Sara Mansoori, previously told the court that he had made a suicide attempt after receiving letters from ITV News and Guardian News and Media seeking his response to the allegations. She said he later made another attempt and had recently been admitted to hospital for psychiatric care.
Justice Matthew Nicklin said Walliams had a “serious and longstanding psychiatric vulnerability” that had to be taken seriously. He also said publication of the allegations would substantially increase the risk of suicide, but that the evidence did not “establish that suicide is inevitable”.
The judge said Walliams’ statements were “not a reliable basis for concluding that no future treatment or intervention could alter that risk”. He nevertheless ruled that granting the injunction would constitute “an exceptionally serious interference” with the rights of ITV News and The Guardian’s publisher.
Gavin Millar, representing the media organisations, told the court that the allegations had been gathered during “a wide-ranging and rigorous investigation” and that there was a strong public interest in publishing them.
