Man plotted to ‘rape and murder’ Holly Willoughby
By Lewis Adams, BBC News, at Chelmsford Crown Court
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A security guard plotted to abduct, rape and murder TV personality Holly Willoughby to fulfil his “ultimate fantasy”, a court heard.
Gavin Plumb, 37, is alleged to have assembled a kit of tools for “highly sexualised” violence against the former This Morning presenter between 2021 and 2023.
Mr Plumb, from Harlow, Essex, is on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court and denies soliciting murder, inciting kidnap and inciting rape.
“It was not just the ramblings of a fantasist; the defendant had carefully planned what he would do,” prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said.
Mr Plumb was alleged to have developed an “obsession” with the broadcaster over a number of years.
He had a “real intention” to kidnap the broadcaster from her home, “take her to a location where she would be raped repeatedly” and then murder her, Ms Morgan said.
She added Mr Plumb was arrested after he revealed his plot to an undercover police officer from the US, who he had been talking to online.
Opening the prosecution’s case, Ms Morgan said Mr Plumb had initially spoken with a man known only as Marc about his plan in 2021.
She alleged the defendant told him: “I’m going to be living out my ultimate fantasy.”
He then added: “I’m now at the point that fantasy isn’t enough anymore. I want the real thing.”
The court was told Mr Plumb had purchased 400 “heavy duty” metal cable ties online while he spoke with Marc.
The jury was played a voice note Mr Plumb sent to Marc in March 2023, outlining his plan to “hit it” at night so there would be less traffic.
“Chloroform both of them [Ms Willoughby and her husband] that way then they can both be easily restrained.
“We’re then gonna force her to make a video saying she come with us under her own free will… and she’s fully consenting to everything we do to her – so that covers us.”
‘Terrify and overpower’
Ms Morgan also revealed Mr Plumb had made previous failed kidnap attempts between 2006 and 2008.
She said the defendant had tied a 16-year-old girl’s hands with rope and tape and had attempted to force two different women off a train with him with the threat of a gun.
“This defendant knew what it would take to terrify and overpower a woman,” Ms Morgan added.
Julia Quenzler/BBC
The jury was told that in October 2023 Mr Plumb, engaged in an online discussion with a person he believed to be called David Nelson.
“In that discussion, the defendant explained his plans to kidnap, rape and murder the celebrity Holly Willoughby”, Ms Morgan said.
She said Mr Plumb’s plans were “graphic and were obviously sexually motivated”.
“They were real to him, members of the jury, and were based on an obsession with Holly Willoughby that had developed over a number of years.”
Richard Knight/BBC
Outlining how Plumb came to be arrested, Ms Morgan said: “What the defendant did not know then, was that the person that he was communicating with online was an undercover police officer based in the USA and not, in fact, a like-minded abductor.
“The defendant’s planning of the offences was then interrupted and he was arrested by the police,” she added.
The court was told that Ms Willoughby had waived her right to anonymity during the trial.
Mr Plumb wore a grey sweater and sat in the dock as proceedings opened.
The trial, expected to last two weeks, continues.
