Man plotted 'kidnap, rape and murder of Willoughby'

An "obsessed" security guard who purchased a "kidnap kit" and chloroform to abduct, rape and murder Holly Willoughby knew how to "terrify and overpower a woman", a court heard. Gavin Plumb, 37, had previously attacked women using both a knife and an imitation firearm before he formulated a detailed plan to kidnap and kill the television personality in a home invasion.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

A trial heard it was his “ultimate fantasy” to target Ms Willoughby, 43, and he had purchased metal cable ties, a knife and chloroform – a liquid drug used to stupefy victims – in preparation for an alleged attack. The shopping centre security guard is accused of soliciting an undercover US officer he met in an online forum called “Abduct Lovers” to join a plot to commit murder, and incitement to kidnap and rape the former This Morning presenter. Mr Plumb, of Harlow, Essex, denies all charges.

The court heard how Mr Plumb unwittingly explained his plans in an online discussion with the officer, who used the pseudonym David Nelson. “The prosecution’s case is that this defendant’s online discussions reveal his real intention to carry out a plot to kidnap Holly Willoughby from her family home; to take her to a location where she would be raped repeatedly, before the defendant then intended to kill her,” prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told the court. It was not just the ramblings of a fantasist. 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.”

Jurors at Chelmsford Crown Court were told how Mr Plumb had tried to abduct women from a train on two occasions in 2006 – once using a fake gun to force his victim to comply. He later held two teenage girls at knifepoint in a shop stockroom in 2008. He was tying one girl’s hands behind her back with ropes when the other escaped and called for help.