Families and shops clear David Walliams books after sexual offence allegations

For years, David Walliams books were bedtime staples in many British homes. Now some families are quietly boxing them up.

This week a joint Guardian and ITV News investigation alleged that the children's author used his position to pursue young women and girls for sex, including girls as young as 15. Walliams denies the allegations.

What are families doing?

Sarah, a mother in west London, has three children aged eight, six and four. They have dressed up as Walliams characters for World Book Day (the annual school celebration of reading). Now she plans to replace the books with other authors, "sooner rather than later, so they don't realise".

One parent found a neighbourhood book-swap box stuffed full of his titles this week. Some teachers say they are taking his books off classroom shelves.

What about shops and libraries?

Several independent bookshops say they stopped stocking him long ago, some as far back as a decade. Others cited concerns about stereotypes in his writing.

Bigger names have moved fast. The Works, a budget retailer, has removed all his titles. TG Jones no longer sells them in store or online. Waterstones says it is talking to HarperCollins, his publisher, about returning the few copies still in a handful of shops.

Public libraries face a harder choice. Isobel Hunter, chief executive of the charity Libraries Connected, said books stay available unless the content itself is unlawful. Most services will keep them until they are withdrawn under normal stock policy, though they need not display or promote them.

What has happened so far?

In 2021, HarperCollins cut a story about a Chinese boy from future editions of The World's Worst Children after complaints it relied on racial stereotypes. It stopped publishing new Walliams books last December and dropped his whole backlist in September.

Sales have fallen sharply. Retailers sold 7,497 of his books in the past four weeks, worth £48,400. In the same period last year, when he had a new title out, that figure was 102,000. Even so, almost 108,000 copies have sold this year.

What's next?

On Friday, the Metropolitan Police (London's police force) confirmed it is investigating a number of allegations of non-recent serious sexual offences involving a man now in his fifties. It said these are separate from the ones reported by ITV News and the Guardian.

For Sarah, the lesson is simple: "Kids need to understand that actions have consequences."