UK police open sex offence probe into comedian and author David Walliams

London’s police have opened an investigation into allegations of serious sexual offences after media reports accused British comedian and children’s author David Walliams of grooming and sexually abusing girls and young women.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Friday that it “has received a number of allegations of non-recent serious sexual offences involving a man now in his 50s”.

In the statement, Met Police Detective Superintendent Mike Cagney urged anyone affected to come forward.

The Met said the new allegations are separate from those reported this week by ITV News and The Guardian.

The two news organisations published reports on Tuesday that several women had accused Walliams of sexual misconduct, with the allegations dating back as far as 2003.

The reports came out a day after comedian Russell Brand was sentenced to more than 10 years in jail for rape and sexual assault.

The Guardian and ITV said they spoke to more than 100 people during a three-year investigation.

One woman said Walliams sexually assaulted her at his London home when she was 15, while others accused him of grooming them as teenagers. The reports also included allegations that he harassed young female colleagues.

In a letter to ITV and The Guardian, he 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.”

He added: “I am not a sexual predator … I have not broken the law.”

The investigative reports were published after he lost a High Court bid to block the media outlets from naming him.

The judge, Matthew Nicklin, said an injunction would be “an exceptionally serious interference” with the media’s rights.

A spokesperson for the BBC told the AFP news agency that it had taken down some shows involving Walliams, including all episodes of Little Britain, the comedy sketch show that made him famous.

His literary agency, Independent Talent Group, said it was “no longer representing him in any capacity”.

Walliams’s publisher, HarperCollins, dropped him last year, following accusations that he harassed female staff, which he had also denied.

Walliams rose to fame as a comedian with sketch shows Little Britain and Come Fly With Me. He was also a judge on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent.

He penned children’s books that have reportedly sold more than 50 million copies, including Mr Stink, Gangsta Granny and The Boy in the Dress.