Holly Willoughby: Gavin Plumb had ‘ultimate fantasy’ of abducting TV host, court told

Ms Willoughby has waived her right to anonymity in connection with an accusation against Plumb of assisting or encouraging rape.

Alleged victims of sex offences or targets of sex offence conspiracies have a right to automatic anonymity for life from the moment an allegation is made by them or anyone else.

Ms Willoughby, 43, announced in October last year that she was stepping down from This Morning after 14 years on the ITV show.

She said in a social media post at the time that she felt “I have to make this decision for me and my family”.

The presenter has since hosted Dancing On Ice 2024 and will present a Netflix show, to be released next year, in which adventurer Bear Grylls hunts down celebrities in the jungle.

After the jury was sworn in, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC opened the case against Gavin Plumb for the Crown Prosecution Service at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Plumb, a shopping centre security officer, was accused of hatching a plot to kidnap, rape and solicit the murder of the star. It’s was also alleged that he considered trying to get employment as her security guard to get close to her.

• Plumb has past convictions including the attempted kidnap of a women on a train with the threat of a gun
• Plumb hatched “graphic” plans to kidnap, rape and murder Ms Willoughby with an undercover police officer from the US
• The plans involved attempting to “ambush” the presenter at her family home
• Plumb had accumulated “many hundreds” of images of Ms Willoughby that he had accessed online

Plumb, of Harlow, Essex, denies all the charges.

Live updates from court will resume in just over two hours when the court sits again.

Gavin Plumb is accused of plotting to kidnap, rape and murder Holly Willoughby.

The shopping centre security officer, of Potters Field, Harlow, will appear at Chelmsford Crown Court shortly.

We are pausing our blog and will be resuming live updates when court sits again at 10.30am tomorrow.

Please follow The Independent’s homepage for all the latest in the meantime.

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.

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.

Crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin has the full story from Chelmsford Crown Court:

Court has adjourned for the day at Chelmsford Crown Court.

The trial of Gavin Plumb will continue at 10.30am tomorrow.

Ms Morgan KC told Chelmsford Crown Court: “The defendant’s planning of these offences was interrupted by his arrest. He never got to the point of encountering Holly Willoughby.

“She did not meet him and the offences that the Prosecution alleges against this defendant, which if carried out would have involved catastrophic violence against her, were disrupted.”

The defendant was arrested on 4 October last year after the undercover US officer alerted the FBI and the Metropolitan Police.

He was shocked when police arrived at his home in Harlow, Essex, the court heard.

When the charges were explained to him, he responded: “I’m not gonna lie. She is a fantasy of mine.”

Police who analysed Gavin Plumb’s mobile phone found that he had 10,322 images of Holly Willoughby in a folder called “Holly”, a court heard.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told Chelmsford Crown Court: “There was a folder in fact on the defendant’s telephone which was called ‘Holly’ and it contained 10,322 images of Holly Willoughby.”

She said that officers explained to Plumb that charges related to a conspiracy to kidnap Ms Willoughby and he responded: “I’m not gonna lie. She is a fantasy of mine.”

Plumb shared a video with an undercover police officer of his “kit” laid out on a bed.

Alison Morgan KC told the court the footage showed equipment including hand and ankle shackles, a ball gag, rope, metal cable ties and handcuffs.

These items would later be found at the defendant’s home address, the jury was told.