Overview
- A multi-year investigation by ITV News and The Guardian published recent allegations that multiple women were groomed and that one woman was sexually assaulted when she was 15; David Walliams denies wrongdoing and failed to block the reporting.
- The Metropolitan Police has opened an investigation into the claims, marking a developing criminal‑justice dimension to the story.
- Publishers, literary agents and major retailers have moved to distance themselves by stopping new commissions, phasing out backlist titles or pausing sales of Walliams’s books.
- Some academy trusts and individual schools have temporarily withdrawn titles and education leaders are asking the government for clear guidance on school library stock and pupil safeguarding.
- Local authorities and library services across England say they will not remove titles solely because of allegations, citing CILIP guidance and stock‑management rules while expecting copies to fall naturally as demand and supplier availability decline.