The women who have made allegations against David Walliams should consider going to the police, a government minister said.

The best-selling author and TV personality was named as part of an investigation by the Guardian and ITV News involving accusations of grooming teenage girls as young as 15 and abusing his position to pursue women.

Climate transition minister Katie White said she found the ITV documentary about Walliams “deeply disturbing” and added: “I feel the trauma of those women.”

She told Times Radio: “I would encourage the women to come forward and give those details over to the Metropolitan Police so they can fully investigate those allegations, because they are incredibly serious.”

David Walliams has previously attracted controversy over his comedia show Little Britain, which was written alongside Matt lucas.

During a stage show of Little Britain in 2006, Walliams was known to perform an act called Hide The Sausage, where he performed as a former children’s entertainer and sex offender named Des Kaye, which saw him touch and pull down the trousers of audience members and attempt to kiss them.

In several clips he calls for “little boys” to join him on stage, before going through the audience to select members of the public to participate in the sketch.

In one, he can be seen pulling down the pants of one man during a Little Britain Comic Relief Gala in 2006.

The sketch had drawn criticism by LGBT campaigners for its portrayal as gay men as predatory.

The show was also criticised for its portrayal of black women by white men.

Walliams sported black make-up and a large afro wig to play the overweight black woman Desiree DeVere.

A TV agent has said he warned broadcasters and police of the comedian’s inappropriate behaviour years ago, but they “did nothing”.

Dermot McNamara, who represented someone allegedly groomed by Walliams, said that the former Britain’s Got Talent judge had brought the 16-year-old girl to a screening of the ITV show.

He then invited her back to his home with another girl “where inappropriate behaviour happened”.

Asked by BBC Newsnight if anything happened after he reported it, he said: “Not that I’m aware of, no.

“He was still on TV for many, many years. He was allowed to, by the sounds of it, be involved with other young women.”

One woman described her encounter with Walliams when she was aged 15 as “sexual assault”, while multiple others accused him of “grooming” them when they were teenagers.

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The government’s victim’s minister has criticised the use of injunctions to silence victims of sexual abuse in the wake of allegations against David Walliams.

Multiple women have accused the celebrity of sexual misconduct in an investigation published by and ITV News, alleging he used his fame to prey on them for sexual purposes.

Walliams denies any wrongdoing and his lawyers took a case to the High Court to try to stop the allegations being published.

Labour minister Alex Davies-Jones said the right decision had been made by the judge to lift the injunction. “I think we've seen for a very long time that powerful, wealthy individuals use injunctions, SLAPPs - those strategic litigations against private individuals.

“They use NDAs to silence victims. It's why exactly it's why the government took action against the use of non-disclosure agreements in our Employment Rights Act for tackling sexual abuse allegations or harassment.

“For far too long, I feel the weight has been imbalanced against victims and survivors, and it's time that that was redistributed and victims and survivors were given a voice and a platform.”

A woman who alleges David Walliams “groomed” her as a teenager has said she is “angry” at a culture of older men “abusing their positions” withint eh industry.

Lilly Creightmore told BBC Newsnight that a month after meeting Walliams when she was 18, he told her he could stay at his house while she was going through a turbulent period at home.

She says: "I felt instantly pressured to share a bed with him."

"In the evenings, he would sort of come and sit with me and stroke my leg, and one night I think he put his head in my lap and sort of be like, 'are you sure you don't want to come and sleep in my bed with me?' I had an inner strength like, 'no I'm not attracted to you in that way'... I felt I was being manipulated."

She says she is "angry" that "this culture of older men in positions of power needs to go, needs to stop. They're abusing their positions, using young people and abusing young people, and people of any age of course. There were too many men in power still, that are doing this and they need to go."

Walliams has denied acting inappropriately and said he believed his friendship with Ms Creightmore was a “special one” and is “devastated” by her account.

Comedian Lucy Beaumont said the TV industry needs better procedures for people to raise safeguarding issues as she revealed she was among people who spoke to The Guardian about allegations involving David Walliams.

The 43-year-old said she raised concerns about Walliams after being told he was hosting teenage girls in his dressing room while working on a TV show and she was “worried” about whether he had behaved inappropriately.

Beaumont discussed her response to the allegations involving Walliams’ while appearing on Sky News’ The Cathy Newman Show on Tuesday, saying she “wants to protect young women” in the TV industry.

“I don’t know Walliams, I haven’t worked with him but, bizarrely, it’s been a really strange day for me because, about three years ago, a young person – and it was their first job on TV – worked on a show he was on and the next show that they worked on was with me.

“They took me aside and said, ‘I need to tell somebody something’ and confided in me.

“Some of (Walliams’) conduct that they were really worried about.”

Beaumont said the young person told her they had to “take young girls” who were “definitely” over 16 to Walliams’ dressing room, adding: “He felt they were vulnerable.”

She added: “At the time, he didn’t think there was a process, a way to let people know within the TV company what was happening and how he felt and I was really worried.”

The Hull-born star added: “I did as much as I could do privately.

“Whenever I’ve heard a rumour about anyone, I’ve done everything I can.

“There’s only so much you can do. I’m not the police. Nothing seems to be illegal.

“But I was really worried, and I was one of the whistleblowers. I was one of the people to let The Guardian know.”

An aide working for Andy Burnham said she had serious concerns about David Waliiams’s behaviour after she attended a recording of Britain’s Got Talent in 2015.

Abby Tomlinson, who is deputy director of digital communications at No10, told ITV News that Walliams, then aged 43, had contacted her on social media when she was 17 years old.

“I know now it’s part of the pattern of inviting young girls and young women to his dressing room,” Ms Tomlinson said. “It wasn’t just like a one-off thing … and I think that is a really concerning way for someone to act when they have this access.”

Walliams has insisted he hosted guests of all different ages and genders during his time as a judge on the show and that his dressing room door remained open.

“The door was shut and we were alone with him,” she said. “He’s the sort of person who obviously had a lot of access to young women, teenage girls.”

After attending the show, Walliams continued to like her social media posts and messaged her “looking good x” when she was 19.

She later posted on social media how uncomfortable she had felt about the interaction.

David Walliams has been accused of sexual misconduct and grooming girls as young as 15 in a joint investigation by and ITV.

The formerjudge has denied any wrongdoing.

Walliams has said: “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.”

Here are the allegations he faces:

Downing Street described the allegations against David Walliams as “deeply troubling” after he was named in an investigation as the celebrity accused of grooming and sexually inappropriate behaviour towards multiple women.

Asked about the investigation by Independent Television News and Guardian News and Media, publisher of The Guardian, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “I don’t think we’ve seen the full extent of the reporting.

“They’re clearly deeply troubling allegations, and the Government will doubtless respond to them during the course of the day, I’m sure.”