London's Metropolitan Police said Friday it has opened an investigation after receiving a number of allegations of non-recent serious sexual offences involving a man now in his 50s, identified in reporting as entertainer and children's author David Walliams^1,2,5.

The force said those allegations are separate from claims published this week by ITV News and the Guardian, but that detectives are also reviewing that reporting to see whether it contains evidence of offences^1,2,5.

Detective Superintendent Mike Cagney, whose team is leading the inquiry, said people who have been the victim of a sexual offence should come forward regardless of when it happened, according to RTE³. The Met said those who have come forward are being supported by specialist officers¹.

RTE, citing PA, said police have not confirmed how many alleged offences were reported or when or where they are said to have taken place³.

ITV and the Guardian this week published allegations after Walliams lost a High Court bid to stop the claims being made public^1,2,4. Sky News UK said he had sought an injunction citing a risk of self-harm².

In a letter to journalists working on those reports, Walliams said he was not a sexual predator and had not broken the law, while saying he sometimes behaved thoughtlessly in casual relationships^1,2. Variety reported that he has denied the published allegations⁴.

Walliams became widely known through BBC sketch comedy, later judged ITV's Britain's Got Talent and wrote a series of children's books¹. RTE said HarperCollins dropped him last year, his literary agency dropped him after this week's reports, and the BBC began removing some of his programmes from iPlayer³.