Holly Willoughby: Obsessed fan ‘plotted rape and murder’ of British TV star

An “obsessed” security guard planned to kidnap British TV star Holly Willoughby from her home and repeatedly rape her before killing her and dumping her body in a lake, a court heard yesterday.

Gavin Plumb, 37, allegedly assembled a restraint “kit” including handcuffs, metal ties and chloroform to subdue the former ITV This Morning host.

Ms Willoughby, 43, and her husband, TV producer Dan Baldwin, 49, would both have been incapacitated, with the perceived threat to her three children providing “an extra incentive for her to be obedient”, jurors were told.

Plumb – who talked online with would-be co-conspirators about “picking out outfits of hers that we like” during the raid – would then have taken her to a “dungeon-style” room where her screams “can’t be heard for miles” while she was subjected to degrading rape fantasies.

The prosecution says he planned to then kill her and dispose of her body.

However, the alleged plot unravelled because one of the people he spoke to turned out to be a US-based undercover police officer using the pseudonym David Nelson, leading to details being passed to the British authorities.

Jurors were told the plot went beyond mere fantasy because “obsessive” Plumb had previous convictions for attempted kidnap and false imprisonment of women.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said: “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.

“It was not just the ramblings of a fantasist. The defendant had carefully planned what he would do and how he would do it.”

Plumb, who was said to have referred to staking out Ms Willoughby’s London home and using Google Earth to establish access points, allegedly detailed the sick plan in a message to Mr Nelson.

He said: “We’ll jump the outer wall, break in, chloroform both her and her husband. Tie both up with zip ties and gag both.

“Take her out of the house and take her out in her car.”

He then described raping his victim at his home before moving her to an abandoned building, “then we get rid [of her]”.

Plumb, the prosecution says, described “taking her to a lake at night ... The defendant describes having masks ... already, kitchen knives and a pocket knife”.

A video sent to Mr Nelson showed a “kit… laid out on a bed; to include hand and ankle shackles, ball gag, rope, metal cable ties and handcuffs”.

These were later found at the defendant’s home, the prosecution says.

Plumb was arrested at his ground-floor flat in Harlow, Essex, on October 4, 2023.

Told he was being accused of conspiracy to kidnap Ms Willoughby he allegedly told officers: “I’m not gonna lie. She is a fantasy of mine.”

The police investigation revealed the defendant had amassed “a great deal” about her online, including her movements.

These fed into online conversations about the “home invasion” he had with several individuals from 2021.

They included “graphic” conversations with someone called Marc in which he expressed himself with “dark depravity” and even involved “talking about what they would do to Holly Willoughby’s sister and also to other celebrities”.

Plumb allegedly told one of his co-conspirators that he had “wanted this for years. I’m going to be living out my ultimate fantasy”.

Conversations with someone called Ryan indicated up to five people being involved in the plot at one point, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

Images shared included the “dungeon-type room” that Plumb described as “big enough for a bed”.

Plumb sent a voice recording to Marc, it is claimed, in which he said: “We’re going to force her [Ms Willoughby] to do a video saying she’s coming with us of her own free will.”

The jury heard he also discussed going on a tour of the ITV studios where Ms Willoughby worked at the time, or “using his training as a security officer at a shopping centre to get employment” with the presenter.

Plumb anticipated ending up in prison, the court was told, but described the “23-hour bang-up” regime in jail as an opportunity to “watch as much TV as you like”.

He eventually complained about others “getting cold feet” and warned: “I’m getting her regardless, if I have to get a new team or do it myself.”

On October 3 last year, the court heard, a US police officer in Minnesota was involved in covert online investigations when he came across someone calling himself Big Bear in a group called “Abduct Lovers”.

The prosecution say this was Plumb, who posted a photo of a white female with blonde hair, standing in front of a “prize wheel’, who the officer established was Ms Willoughby.

Big Bear allegedly wrote: “I know when she does and don’t have security and that she doesn’t have CCTV at home.”

The “concerned” officer began direct messaging the defendant, under the name David Nelson.

While exchanging messages, the Crown say Plumb sent a video with his restraint kit. He was arrested the following day after the Metropolitan Police were alerted.

The “kidnap kit” and electronic devices including a phone with a folder named Holly that contained 10,322 images of Ms Willoughby were found at his home, jurors heard.

Overweight and bespectacled Plumb, who appeared in court wearing a grey tracksuit top and dark tracksuit bottoms, leaned forward throughout most of the hearing and gazed down at the floor.

He denies three charges of soliciting kidnap, rape and murder.

Ms Willoughby – who cancelled an appearance on This Morning when she learned about the alleged plot and left the show a week later – waived her right to anonymity in the case.

The trial continues.