A second male celebrity has reportedly obtained an injunction preventing the publication of allegations against him, according to a journalist on the Private Eye Podcast.
Journalist Justine Smith, speaking on the podcast recorded before David Walliams was named, said: "There are two men at the moment who can’t be named. One for the most recent proceedings, and then one from several months back."
She added: "Both of them have injunctions against reporting anything. Both of them multiple, multiple victims. Both of them in the public eye."
Journalist's account of alleged victim
Smith said she had spoken to one of the alleged victims, stating that the woman was "prepared to speak publicly and be named" but that she could not publish the article due to an injunction.
She continued: "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' legal case
David Walliams was named yesterday as the celebrity accused of preying on girls as young as 15. Multiple women have accused the TV star of sexually inappropriate behaviour and grooming, including when they were teenagers.
Walliams asked the High Court in London to permanently prevent ITN and the Guardian from publishing his identity and the allegations. However, the bid for an injunction was denied last week. Walliams brought legal action against the two news organisations.
Lawyers for the TV personality, who denies the allegations, argued that he would be at risk of taking his own life after two previous suicide attempts. But in a ruling on November 3, judge Justice Nicklin dismissed the bid for an injunction, ruling it would be an "exceptionally serious interference" with freedom of expression.
The judge said Walliams could take his case to the Court of Appeal; however, the deadline to do so was missed on Monday, November 9.
Allegations and response
The news outlets say they have interviewed more than 100 people with knowledge of the celebrity’s alleged misconduct, including 30 with "first-hand" accounts.
Lawyers for the media organisations previously told the court in London that the allegations they want to report involve Walliams' alleged "abuse of power and status" to contact young women in a bid to engage in "inappropriate and exploitative sexual activities".
In a letter addressed to journalists working on this investigation, Walliams wrote: "Looking back, I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with.
"I realise I did not always take people’s feelings properly into account. That is something I regret. And 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."
He added: "I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law, but I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me."
