Met Police open criminal investigation into David Walliams over non-recent sexual offence allegations

London's Metropolitan Police have opened a criminal investigation into allegations of non-recent serious sexual offences involving a man in his 50s, a description that matches the entertainer David Walliams, who is 55 and denies wrongdoing. The force said it received numerous allegations in recent days, that they are separate from those in a media investigation published Tuesday, and that detectives are also proactively reviewing that reporting. Detective Superintendent Mike Cagney urged anyone who has been the victim of a sexual offence to come forward, and the force said those who have done so are being supported by specialist officers. Walliams had sought an injunction in early November to block publication, but a judge refused it. Last year his publisher, HarperCollins, dropped him, and in September it said it would no longer publish his back catalog.

The right-leaning Daily Mail leads with the police probe and the accusations themselves: that Walliams sexually assaulted a 15-year-old, targeted another girl during her GCSE mocks, and harassed other young women. It also stresses his High Court fight, reporting that he threatened to kill himself if the claims were published. The Guardian, on the left, does not lead with the police action. It leads with calls for a staggered age of consent for 16- and 17-year-olds, citing the victims' commissioner Claire Waxman, the barrister Charlotte Proudman and some Labour MPs, and it notes that Walliams denies the claims. Both sides agree that Walliams denies the allegations and that the claims involve young women. They differ in emphasis: the Mail stresses individual accusations and the court battle, while the Guardian treats the case as a reason for legal reform. The A.V. Club largely follows the police account but adds the HarperCollins history.