Holly Willoughby case latest: Security guard Gavin Plumb on trial for ‘plotting to kidnap, rape and kill’ presenter

By admin On Jun 24, 2024

Key points

12:46:07 Attack planned ‘for some time’

The court hears Gavin Plumb had been planning an attack on Holly Willoughby for “some time” and his “sexual obsession” was clear from his graphic communications.

It’s likely he may suggest “this is all just a fantasy” during his trial, Alison Morgan KC says as she continues opening the prosecution case.

But she asks jurors if the messages he exchanged with others are the “talk of a fantasist” or if the “dark depravity” suggests he meant what he said.

Plumb mentioned “items to control” the television presenter and shared an image of her home online with someone called “Marc”, the jury is told.

As far back as 2021, they discussed attacking her in a “home invasion,” says Ms Morgan, as well as talking about her sister and other celebrities.

12:25:44 Plumb ‘targeted 16-year-old shop workers’

The court hears of an incident in 2008, involving false imprisonment, when Gavin Plumb approached two 16-year-old girls, who were colleagues in a shop he worked at, and said: “Get to the back of the stockroom.”

He held a knife towards them, told them to turn around and took rope and tape out of his pocket which he used to tie the hands of one of the girls, the jury is told.

But the other girl managed to escape, police were called and Plumb was arrested, says prosecutor Alison Morgan KC, who adds the victims were both “terrified”.

“These were real offences, committed against real women,” she says. “They tell you that this defendant knew what it would take to terrify and overpower a woman.

“He was also someone who had done this for real and not just as a fantasy.”

12:22:36 Suspect ‘tried to kidnap two women on train’

Gavin Plumb had “real life” experience of violence towards women, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC says, including trying to kidnap two women in 2006.

The court hears he approached a woman on a train, sat opposite her and stared at her before before passing her a note.

Jurors are read the note, which says: “Have got a gun. All you have to do is keep quiet. Do what I say. So just stand up and get off at the next stop with me. Don’t cry or make a sound.

“Don’t stop me from touching you because I won’t hurt you. If you do all of this, no one will get hurt but if you don’t I am going to shoot you and myself and everyone else.”

The “terrified” victim started to cry and others came to help and Plumb tore up the note and ran off at the next stop, the jury is told.

Two days later, he tried to force another woman to get off a train with him while armed with an imitation firearm and three rope ligatures, the court hears.

He passed her a note and claimed to be a police officer, the prosecutor says, but she refused and reported the incident to police.

12:18:37 Plotter collected pictures of Willoughby, court hears

Alison Morgan KC, prosecuting, outlines the three charges against security guard Gavin Plumb, all of which he denies.

They are soliciting murder and two counts of encouraging or assisting someone to commit an offence – kidnap and rape.

She says Plumb, who lived alone in Harlow, Essex, was “obsessed” with Holly Willoughby and had collected “many hundreds images” of her, which he had found online.

Jurors are shown pictures inside his home.

He knew a “great deal” about her from information he found on social media and the internet and followed her activities and movements, she says.

Plumb’s “obsessive” behaviour also extended to other celebrities and local women and he commented on their appearance in a “degrading manner”, making “graphic” suggestions to others about what he wanted to do to them, the prosecutor says.

12:12:36 Plan to kidnap ‘based on an obsession’

The judge, Mr Justice Murray, tells the jury of eight women and four men, plus an extra two jurors who will be in court for the opening of the case, the trial involves a “well-known public figure” and it’s likely “most if not all” would’ve heard something about Holly Willoughby or even the case.

But he tells them to put all of it “firmly out of your minds” when considering the evidence and reaching their verdicts.

The prosecutor, Alison Morgan KC, is opening the case to the jury, telling them Gavin Plumb explained his plans to kidnap, rape and murder Willoughby to a man he believed to be called “David Nelson” online.

She says Plumb’s plans were “graphic” and “obviously sexually motivated” and based on an “obsession” with the television presenter.

He sought to encourage the other person to commit the offences with him, she says, but he was unwittingly talking to an undercover US police officer and his plot was interrupted when he was arrested.

Ms Morgan says Plumb’s online discussions reveal his “real intention” to carry out a plot to kidnap Willoughby from her family home, take her to a location where she would be raped repeatedly before he then intended to kill her.

“It was not just the ramblings of a fantasist,” she says. “The defendant had carefully planned what he would do and how he would do it, purchasing items that would assist him in carrying out the attack.”

12:03:07 Good afternoon – Holly Willoughby kidnap plot trial has begun

The trial of a man accused of planning to kidnap, rape and murder Holly Willoughby has begun.

Shopping centre security guard Gavin Plumb, 37, is going on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, in Essex, today, accused of planning the alleged attack.

Willoughby, 43, who announced in October last year that she was stepping down from This Morning after 14 years on the ITV show, is not attending the trial and won’t be called as a witness.

Plumb, who is in the dock wearing a light grey sweater and dark tracksuit bottoms, faces three charges, which he denies.

He allegedly solicited the murder of Willoughby between 2 October and 5 October last year.

Plumb is also charged with two counts of encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, relating to an alleged plot to kidnap and rape her between 27 December 2021 and 5 October last year.

According to the charges, he allegedly “assembled a restraint kit, and formulated a plan” with others from outside the UK to break in to Willoughby’s home, “stupefy and tie her up” and have sex with her without her consent.

Since leaving This Morning, she has hosted Dancing On Ice 2024, and is to present a Netflix show – to be released next year – in which adventurer Bear Grylls hunts down celebrities in the jungle.

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