The teenage girls David Walliams preyed on in public: As police urge women to come forward, how grooming comic's behaviour was so well known Jonathan Ross joked about it in a room full of stars

Scotland Yard last night urged women to come forward after David Walliams was unmasked as the celebrity trying to hush up claims he preyed on teenagers.The children's author and entertainer used his fame to groom schoolgirls and pursue young women, it was claimed.Walliams, 55, allegedly sexually assaulted one 15-year-old, targeted another who was doing her GCSE mocks, and sexually harassed a string of other young women, according to a media investigation. Walliams denies all the accusations.He acknowledged behaving 'thoughtlessly' at times but declared: 'I am not a sexual predator.'However, controversy has never been far away and after the allegations emerged yesterday, footage from the 2004 Comedy Awards resurfaced. It shows Walliams laughing as compere Jonathan Ross tells the room full of celebrities and TV executives: 'The comedy awards is 15 years old – and like most 15-year-olds, it's drunk, it's unpredictable and it's probably going home with David Walliams.'It is understood Ross did not write the joke, and just delivered it.Walliams threatened to kill himself if the women's claims were made public, the High Court was told last month. The former Britain's Got Talent judge sought an injunction to silence the investigation, sparking a national guessing game about the identity of the 'well-known individual' at the centre of the case.But his application was refused and yesterday The Guardian newspaper and ITV News published more than 17,000 words online and an hour-long documentary detailing the torrid claims. Lilly Creightmore (left), a former model, was 18 in 2003 when David Walliams (right) 'constantly pestered' her for sex, she alleged Another woman, identified only as Alex, alleged Walliams groomed her at 15 when she was studying for her mock GCSEs and met him at a Little Britain fan event. Pictured: Alex at 15, meeting Walliams The Metropolitan Police said they were aware of media reports about a man in his 50s but had not received any allegations of sexual assault or other offences, adding: 'Should we receive any reports, they will be carefully assessed.'The Met revealed they had offered information last week to the media organisations 'to ensure any potential victims who they have spoken to could be made aware of how they could report any criminal allegations to police'.Last night comedian Lucy Beaumont revealed she had been a whistleblower in the investigation, after hearing about girls being taken to Walliams' dressing room, and said one of them had signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).Ms Beaumont told Sky News: 'She was in a really bad way. I was worried she was going to take her own life because of it.'She had signed an NDA, not just to not talk to the media, but she couldn't talk to family or friends or a therapist.'The award-winning comic added: 'I want to protect young women. I feel it (sexual harassment) is still going on.'Walliams – the millionaire star of TV shows such as Little Britain and Come Fly With Me, and a successful children's author once feted as the 'new Roald Dahl' – is accused of abusing his celebrity to snare teenage girls and young women.A woman referred to as Jade said she was 15 in 2007 when Walliams molested her. He had contacted her on the now-defunct messaging site MySpace – a precursor to Facebook – asking for her number, and they chatted on the phone about 'where I lived, what I do in school'. Abby Tomlinson (right), now a senior aide to Andy Burnham, is among those who spoke out. She was a 17-year-old BGT fan in 2015 when she says she found herself in Walliams' dressing room with girls aged 13, 16 and 17, without any other adult presentThey arranged to meet in Soho where Walliams, then 36, bought her coffee before taking her down an alleyway and kissing her, she alleged. He then drove her in his Aston Martin to his house – Supernova Heights, the Primrose Hill mansion once owned by Oasis star Noel Gallagher – where he 'lifted my top up and sucked on my breast and then tried to put my hand down his trousers', she alleged.'That's when I pulled away and said no. I was only 15. It's a sexual assault. It's grooming. It's completely wrong in every way.' Lawyers for Walliams said he had never engaged in grooming young women and denied any sexual contact with Jade. They said the allegations of serious criminal conduct were false.Another woman, identified only as Alex, alleged Walliams groomed her at 15 when she was studying for her mock GCSEs and met him at a Little Britain fan event. Her mother snapped a photo of the moment Alex handed him comedy sketches she had written, and a few days later he phoned her, saying: 'Hi, it's David Walliams. You know, off the telly.'They talked about her school, exams and when she was turning 16, it was claimed. Walliams helped with her writing and offered to get her work experience in TV. When she was 17, in 2005, they had consensual sex, she said, but added: 'It felt very... pushy. I felt like a prostitute, essentially. I think I was groomed, 100 per cent.'Walliams' lawyers said he believed Alex was 18 when they had sex and was 'mortified to learn' that their 'brief, consensual relationship has caused her sadness'.Abby Tomlinson, now a senior aide to Andy Burnham in Downing Street, is among those who spoke out. The PM's deputy digital comms chief was a 17-year-old BGT fan in 2015 when she says she found herself in Walliams' dressing room with girls aged 13, 16 and 17, without any other adult present. She told The Guardian: 'The door was shut and we were alone with him.' Walliams' lawyers said this claim was misleading. Jonathan Ross made a joke about 15-year-olds 'going home with David Walliams' at the British Comedy Awards in December 2004 Walliams, who was on Tuesday unmasked as the celebrity who tried to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct, was filmed laughing at the remarkSarah, another BGT fan, said she was invited to Walliams' house when she was 18 and claimed he got her drunk and stroked her leg before trying to lead her to bed. Lilly Creightmore, a former model, was 18 in 2003 when he 'constantly pestered' her for sex, she alleged.A whistleblower at Walliams' former publisher, HarperCollins, claimed: 'There was an agreement: if you went to his house, you had to go in a pair. You couldn't go by yourself.'The allegations against Walliams emerged one day after his friend Russell Brand was jailed for more than ten years for rape and sexual assault. They have intensified the spotlight on the entertainment industry after accusations that Brand's offending was an open secret.Downing Street said the Government was 'concerned' about the use of injunctions, and Labour has suspended Walliams as a party member.On October 22, Walliams was sectioned under the Mental Health Act for his own safety, the High Court was told. The Guardian said he remained in a psychiatric hospital when the judge dismissed the case last week.KATIE HIND: When you hear MY stories about David Walliams, you'll understand my relief that he's finally been unmaskedALISON BOSHOFF: How disgraced comedian David Walliams - a self-confessed sex addict who once said 'it would be simpler if I was gay' - has spent his life battling extreme loneliness by relentlessly pursuing women uncomfortably younger than him READ MORE: David Walliams molested young men in humiliating Hide The Sausage game during 'sickening' stage showRevealed: How BGT probed claims David Walliams was taking teenagers into his dressing room six YEARS ago - and Simon Cowell's withering reaction to his old friend's downfall How it unfolded: The day David Walliams was unmasked as the celebrity trying to hush up claims he preyed on teenagers READ MORE: Jonathan Ross says he is 'horrified' by David Walliams allegations as he opens up about 'deeply shocking' joke about Little Britain comedian 'going home with 15-year-olds' From Little Britain and Comic Relief to marrying a supermodel...then sex allegation scandal: A timeline of David Walliams's career highs and lows