Second celebrity with 'multiple' victims has been granted gagging order - after David Walliams was unmasked as star hiding behind injunction

A second well-known male celebrity accused of having 'multiple' victims is also hiding behind an injunction, an investigative journalist has claimed.Justine Smith, who works for Private Eye magazine, said the unnamed star had been granted the order several months ago and was 'in the public eye'.The revelation comes after David Walliams was accused yesterday of sexual misconduct and abusing his power to groom teenagers as young as 15.Walliams was named as part of an investigation by two media outlets, after he tried to obtain an injunction to prevent the reporting of allegations against him.Speaking on The Private Eye Podcast - released yesterday before Walliams was identified - Ms Smith said: 'There are two men at the moment that can't be named.'One for the most recent proceedings, and then one from several months back. Both of them, there are injunctions on reporting anything. Both of them multiple, multiple victims. Both of them in the public eye.'I mean I've spoken to one of the alleged victims in one of them, she's prepared to speak publicly and be named, but we still can't publish that. He's managed to get an injunction, very heavily slapped anyone who dares to say anything about it.'So we know this man is out there potentially abusing other people and there's nothing we can do to report it.' David Walliams was accused of sexual misconduct and abusing his power to groom teenagersIt comes as one woman described her alleged encounter with Walliams, when she was 15, as a 'sexual assault', while multiple women accused him of 'grooming' them when they were teenagers. Walliams denies any wrongdoing.In a letter understood to have been sent several months ago by Walliams to journalists working on the investigations, the television personality denied being a 'sexual predator'.He said he recognised he 'behaved thoughtlessly' at times, and regretted not taking people's feelings 'properly into account', but insisted he had not broken the law.The letter added: '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.'Walliams has not yet responded to yesterday's reports that have named him as the subject of the allegations.It follows his unsuccessful attempts to seek an injunction to prevent the publications because of the risk he would take his own life, after two previous suicide attempts.Judge Mr Justice Nicklin refused the bid for an injunction, ruling it would be an 'exceptionally serious interference' with freedom of expression.The Metropolitan Police said it has contacted the Guardian and ITV News 'to ensure that any potential victims' are 'made aware of how they could report any criminal allegations to police', after the sexual misconduct claims were made.Several sources alleged inappropriate behaviour towards women at the prime-time show Britain's Got Talent (BGT), where Walliams served as a judge from 2012 to 2022, and his publisher HarperCollins, which dropped him last year. Investigative journalist Justine Smith (right) made the claim on The Private Eye PodcastA spokesperson for HarperCollins UK said the publisher 'previously terminated its publishing relationship' with Walliams, adding: 'We take the safety of our people incredibly seriously.'He was also dropped by his literary agency, Independent Talent Group, after the allegations were published and the BBC started to remove his shows, including Little Britain, from iPlayer.Walliams had his Labour Party membership suspended and Downing Street described the allegations as 'deeply troubling'.Allegations made in the reports by ITV News and the Guardian include one from a woman known as Jade, who alleges what she describes as 'sexual assault' and 'grooming' after meeting him in 2007 when she was 15 and he was 36.Another woman, named by the news organisations as Alex, also accused Walliams of grooming her, and alleged she was having sex with him by the time she was 17.A young woman named Lilly Creightmore, who said she met Walliams when she was 18 at a live filming of Little Britain, alleges he was 'trying to coerce me into sleeping with him' after claiming he asked her to stay in his bed every night.A model, named as Ella, alleges Walliams tried to kiss her when they were alone after she met him at a party in 2007 when she was 19 and he was 36.Walliams has vehemently denied all allegations made against him, rejects any allegations of criminal activity and said he has never engaged in the grooming of young women.He also denies 'buying' a junior BGT employee's silence following allegations from a man, named as Mark, who claimed he received £300 from Walliams after he walked into his dressing room and found two 'very young people' in there while the TV star was only wearing a towel.